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DENMARK 


A  Cooperative  Commonwealth 


BY 


FREDERIC  C.  HOWE,  Ph.D. 

AUTHOR  OF 
"  THE  LAND  AND  THE  SOLDIEB,"  "  THE  HIGH 
COST  OF  LIVING,"  "  WHY  WAB,"  "  SOCIALIZED 
GEBMANY,"  "THE  MODERN  CITY  AND  ITS 
PROBLEMS,"  "EUROPEAN  CITIES  AT  WORK," 
"PRIVILEGE  AND  DEMOCRACY  IN  AMERICA," 
"  THE  CITY :  THE  HOPE  OF  DEMOCRACY,"  ETC. 


H 


NEW  YORK 

HARCOURT,  BRACE  AND  COMPANY 

1921 


COPYBIGHT,   1921,  BY 
HABCOUET,  BBACE  AND  COMPANY,  INC. 
MAIN  LIBRARY       SRfC  ULTUftB  DE|^. 


THE  QUINN  ft  BODEN  COMPANY 
RAHWAY,    N.  J. 


PKEFACE 

As  I  reread  the  proof-sheets  of  this  study  of 
Denmark  and  the  Danish  people,  I  felt  that  I 
should  have  some  confirmation  of  my  observa- 
tions as  to  the  conditions  in  that  country.  A 
visitor  is  likely  to  see  what  he  goes  prepared 
to  see  or  what  over-zealous  friends  want  him 
to  see.  To  guard  against  this  danger,  I  took 
the  proofs  to  well-informed  Danes  resident  in 
this  country  for  criticism.  They  kindly  checked 
up  the  historical  and  social  data.  They  veri- 
fied the  statistical  statements  from  official  man- 
uals. They  confirmed  the  interpretation  of  the 
cultural  life  of  the  people,  of  the  essential 
democracy  of  the  country,  and  of  the  industrial 
and  social  conditions  that  prevail. 

Denmark  seems  to  me  to  be  quite  the  most 
valuable  political  exhibit  in  the  modern  world. 
It  should  be  studied  by  statesmen.  It  should  be 
visited  by  commissions,  especially  by  com- 
missions from  the  agricultural  states  of  the 
American  West.  Denmark  is  one  of  the  few 
countries  in  the  world  that  is  using  its  political 


550520 


iv  PREFACE 

agencies  in  an  intelligent,  conscious  way  for  the 
promotion  of  the  economic  well  being,  the  com- 
fort and  the  cultural  life  of  the  people. 

This  is  the  first  lesson  that  this  little  country 
teaches.  It  is  a  very  important  lesson.  For 
whether  we  go  to  England,  to  France,  to  Ger- 
many, or  to  the  United  States,  we  find  the  same 
conditions  prevailing.  The  political  state  is 
in  a  bad  way.  It  commands  little  confidence. 
It  does  not  function  well.  It  is  an  imperialis- 
tic thing.  It  is  an  agency  of  classes  and  groups. 
It  does  not  represent  or  aim  to  represent  the 
great  mass  of  the  people.  And  it  does  very 
little  to  serve  them. 

Second,  Denmark  shows  that  the  state  can 
control  the  distribution  of  wealth  and  increase 
its  production  as  well.  It  can  destroy  monopoly 
and  privileges  of  all  kinds.  It  can  put  an  end 
to  poverty.  It  can  make  it  possible  for  all 
people  to  live  easily  and  comfortably.  That 
in  itself  is  of  great  value.  One  cannot  study  the 
many  laws  that  have  been  enacted  during  the 
last  generation  without  being  impressed  by  the 
ease  with  which  the  state  can  serve  its  people 
if  it  has  a  mind  to  do  so.  For  Denmark  has 
raised  the  standard  of  intelligence  to  a  high 
point.    It  has  abolished  illiteracy.    Most  im- 


PREFACE  v 

portant  of  all,  it  has  ushered  in  a  society  in 
which  equality  of  opportunity  is  not  far  from 
an  accomplished  fact. 

Denmark  also  demonstrates  that  agriculture 
can  be  made  an  alluring  as  well  as  a  profitable 
profession.  The  wealth  that  can  be  taken  from 
the  ground  is  measured  by  the  intelligence  of 
the  farmer  and  the  laws  that  determine  the 
distribution  of  the  produce.  The  latter  is  by 
far  the  more  important.  For  if  the  farmer  gives 
up  a  great  part  of  his  produce  to  the  landlord, 
or  if  it  is  taken  by  speculators,  by  middlemen 
or  others,  agriculture  is  bound  to  decay.  It 
cannot  be  otherwise.  For  over  a  generation 
Denmark  has  been  working  out  plans  for  con- 
verting the  tenant  into  a  home  owner.  This 
probably  explains  the  other  achievements  of 
the  country.  This  lies  back  of  the  educational 
program  as  well  as  the  universal  spirit  of  co- 
operation that  prevails. 

The  culture  of  Denmark  is  also  unique.  It  is 
a  culture  not  of  a  few  people  but  of  the  whole 
nation.  The  state  has  decreed  that  education 
should  be  the  possession  of  all  of  the  people. 
Knowledge  has  been  taken  out  of  cold  storage. 
It  has  been  made  a  practical  thing.  It  in- 
creases the  production  of  wealth.    And  culture 


vi  PREFACE 

has  lost  none  of  its  finer  qualities  in  the 
process.    Rather  it  has  gained. 

Denmark  demonstrates,  too,  that  democracy- 
levels  up.  It  selects  men  of  talent  and  entrusts 
them  with  power.  No  country  in  Europe  spends 
so  large  a  part  of  its  budget  on  education, 
on  social  agencies,  on  cultural  things.  No  city 
in  Europe  is  more  generous  in  its  appreciation 
of  literature,  the  opera,  the  drama,  and  an  in- 
telligent press  than  is  Copenhagen.  And  no 
people  as  a  whole  are  so  eager  for  lectures,  for 
purely  intellectual  enjoyments,  as  are  the 
Danes.  This  is  true  of  the  farmer.  It  is  true 
of  the  agricultural  worker.  It  is  true  of  the 
artisan  in  the  town. 

Cooperation  is  the  thing  for  which  Denmark 
is  most  widely  known.  And  cooperation  per- 
vades everything.  It  is  universal  among  the 
farmers,  and  is  fast  becoming  universal  in  the 
towns  as  well.  The  movement  partakes  more 
of  industrial  democracy  than  it  does  of  con- 
sumers' cooperation.  The  farmers  own  their 
own  dairies,  slaughterhouses,  egg-collecting 
societies,  banks,  and  all  kinds  of  breeding  and 
developing  agencies.  Every  second  family  in 
Denmark  is  connected  with  one  or  more  of  the 
cooperative  societies,  while  the  average  farmer 


PREFACE  vii 

is  a  member  of  from  three  to  ten  such  organiza- 
tions. His  life  centers  in  the  cooperative.  He 
acquires  a  knowledge  of  chemical,  mechanical 
and  industrial  processes  from  the  cooperative. 
He  gets  a  very  practical  education  in  this  way. 
Cooperation,  however,  is  far  more  than  a  profit- 
making  thing.  It  far  more  than  an  agency  for 
protecting  the  farmer  from  exploitation.  Co- 
operation is  of  the  very  texture  of  the  every- 
day life  of  Denmark.  Through  the  thousands 
of  cooperative  societies  the  economic  life  of  the 
people  moves,  just  as  their  political  life  moves 
through  the  political  state.  And  the  men  who 
have  been  trained  in  the  cooperative  move- 
ment are  the  men  who  have  risen  to  political 
power.  This  cooperative  movement  of  the 
farmers  has  ended  the  duality  that  prevails  in 
other  countries.  It  has  put  an  end  to  the  arti- 
ficiality of  a  political  state  governed  by  law- 
yers, landowners,  or  a  privileged  class,  and  an 
economic  state  separate  and  detached  from  the 
political  state.  In  Denmark  men  work  and 
govern  as  a  single  undertaking.  The  economic 
and  political  state  are  merged.  They  reflect 
one  another.  The  state  is  a  farmers'  state. 
And  the  political  state  mirrors  the  needs  of  the 
farmer. 


viii  PREFACE 

Denmark  is  also  a  demonstration  of  the  value 
of  the  small  nation.  Like  Belgium,  Norway 
and  Australia,  the  population  is  homogeneous. 
The  people  know  one  another.  They  are  willing 
to  make  experiments.  They  see  what  is  actually 
going  on.  They  can  study  social  legislation, 
taxation  or  the  railroad  question  and  can  meas- 
ure the  value  of  these  agencies  as  they  cannot 
in  a  larger  country.  Art,  the  drama,  litera- 
ture and  education  can  be  more  easily  devel- 
oped than  in  a  large  state.  A  small  state  is 
hopelesly  unable  to  acquire  and  hold  imperial- 
istic possessions  or  gain  anything  from  a  great 
army  or  navy.  So  it  abandons  these  pursuits 
to  the  greater  powers.  Denmark  gave  Iceland 
her  freedom.  Her  pride  did  not  suffer  as  a 
consequence.  And  there  was  no  protest  on  the 
part  of  any  group  or  class.  Denmark  has  no 
overseas  ambitions.  She  has  no  interest  in 
other  people's  lands.  She  is  concerned  solely 
with  the  intensive  development  of  her  own  ter- 
ritory and  the  promotion  of  the  well-being  of 
her  three  million  people. 

At  a  time  when  a  great  part  of  Europe  is 
fast  drifting  towards  economic  collapse,  Den- 
mark offers  a  demonstration  of  how  a  nation 
can  come  back  to  life,  of  how  agriculture  can 


PREFACE  ix 

be  made  both  profitable  and  attractive,  of  bow 
the;  people  can  be  made  contented,  and  how  the 
hopelessness  and  poverty  of  the  world  can  be 
corrected  by  orderly  political  action. 

Denmark  is  a  demonstration  of  the  possi- 
bilities of  democracy,  industrial  as  well  as  po- 
litical. It  is  a  demonstration  of  the  resource- 
fulness of  the  average  man  and  especially  of  the 
man  farthest  down.  For  the  prosperity,  the 
culture,  the  wise  legislation,  and  the  co- 
operative movement  are  the  achievement  of  the 
common  people. 

Frederic  C.  Howe. 

New  York, 
January,  1921. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 
I. 

Impressions 

PAGE 
1 

II. 

From  the  Ashes 

11 

III. 

A  Peaceful  Revolution 

20 

IV. 

Cooperative  Movement 

29 

.V. 

Some  Gains  from  Cooperation  . 

59 

VI. 

Economic  Foundations — Farm  Own 

ership    .       .- 

67 

VII. 

A  Prophet 

75 

VIII. 

The  People's  High  Schools 

89 

IX. 

Making  Farming  Alluring 

99 

X. 

Elementary  Education 

113 

XI. 

The  Soul  of  the  People 

126 

XII. 

A  Government  of  Farmers 

133 

XIII. 

Ending  Landlordism     . 

141 

XIV. 

Social  Legislation 

154 

XV. 

Railways 

166 

XVI. 

Taxes        

173 

XVII. 

Some  Lessons  from  Denmark    . 

182 

Index 

201 

\s 


DENMARK 

CHAPTER  I 

IMPRESSIONS 

Denmakk  is  a  little  country.  It  is  about  twice 
the  size  of  Massachusetts,  less  than  one-third 
the  size  of  New  York  and  one-fourth  the  size  of 
Iowa.  The  population  is  about  the  same  as  that 
of  New  Jersey-3,049,000— of  which  47  per 
cent  live  in  towns  and  53  per  cent  in  the  country. 
The  total  area  is  15,586  square  miles.  This  is 
slightly  more  than  the  area  of  Holland.  It  is 
about  4,000  square  miles  more  than  the  area  of 
Belgium  and  about  the  same  as  the  area  of 
Switzerland.  It  would  take  nearly  twenty 
Denmarks  to  cover  the  state  of  Texas.1 

The  population  is  relatively  dense,  being 
195.31  per  square  mile.  As  compared  with 
other  European  countries,  we  find  191.19  per- 
sons per  square  mile  in  Prance,  and  236.97  in 
Switzerland,  while  Belgium  has  671.69  persons 

iThe  above  figures  do  not  include  North  Sleswig. 

1 


2  DENMARK 

per  mile.  While  Denmark  is  an  agricultural 
state,  only  1,003,716  persons  or  36.4  per  cent  of 
the  population  were  engaged  in  agriculture, 
forestry  and  fishery  in  1911. 

Denmark  consists  of  the  peninsula  of  Jut- 
land which  obtrudes  like  a  spike  from  the 
western  corner  of  Germany  and  divides  the 
North  Sea  from  the  Baltic.  In  addition  there 
are  three  large  and  three  small  islands.  Prior 
to  1864  Denmark  included  Sleswig  and  Hol- 
stein,  two  provinces  to  the  south  which  were 
absorbed  by  Prussia  and  Austria  in  that  year. 
Of  this  territory  North  Sleswig  has  just  been 
returned  to  Denmark  after  a  plebiscite  in  which 
three-fourths  of  the  inhabitants  voted  for  re- 
union with  Denmark.  North  Sleswig  has  an 
area  of  1,507  square  miles,  is  one  and  one-half 
the  size  of  Rhode  Island  and  has  a  population  of 
170,000.  The  new  " Greater  Denmark' '  has  a 
total  area  of  17,118  miles  and  a  population  of 
about  3,220,000. 

Denmark's  colonial  possessions  formerly 
consisted  of  Greenland,  Iceland  and  the  Dan- 
ish West  Indies.  The  latter  were  sold  to  the 
United  States  in  1916.  Iceland  (area  40,000 
square  miles,  population  90,000)  which  had 
enjoyed  home  rule  since  1874  was  in  1918  vol- 


IMPRESSIONS  3 

untarily  recognized  as  a  free  and  independent 
nation  by  Denmark,  the  two  countries  only  being 
united  by  the  same  king.  Greenland  is  now 
Denmark's  only  colony.  The  Faroe  Islands 
which  also  belong  to  Denmark  are  not  a  colony, 
but  a  part  of  the  kingdom. 

In  the  ten  years  before  the  war  the  population 
increased  by  12.5  per  cent,  while  that  of  Eng- 
land increased  by  8.8  per  cent.  The  annual 
birth  rate  is  approximately  31.2  per  thousand. 
In  England  it  is  26.1.  The  death  rate  is  19.2 
per  thousand,  as  compared  with  15.7  in  Eng- 
land. Tuberculosis  is  the  most  prevalent 
disease. 

There  are  only  four  towns  of  any  size  in  the 
country — Copenhagen  (including  Frederiks- 
berg)  with  a  population  of  575,000;  Aarhus, 
65,000;  Aalborg,  35,000;  and  Odense,  40,000. 

The  country  is  low  and  for  the  most  part  flat. 
As  compared  with  England,  it  is  somewhat 
warmer  in  summer  but  colder  in  winter.  There 
are  heavy  rain  storms  during  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  year.  The  soil  is  far  from  fertile 
and  up  to  a  short  time  ago  a  large  part  of  the 
peninsula  of  Jutland  was  barren  heath  of  little 
value  for  agricultural  purposes.  Much  of  the 
waste  lands  have   since  been  reclaimed   and 


4  DENMARK 

brought  under  culture  by  chemical  treatment  of 
the  soil.  There  are  no  considerable  rivers  and 
few  forests,  only  8.3  per  cent  of  the  area  being 
covered  by  trees. 

The  People.  The  Danish  people  are  related 
to  the  Swedes,  the  Norwegians  and  the  English. 
In  parts  of  the  country  the  dialect  spoken  is 
understandable  by  an  Englishman.  The  people 
are  part  of  the  old  Norse  stock.  Blue  eyes  and 
blond  hair  and  complexions  predominate.  The 
religion  is  Protestant,  the  state  church  being 
Lutheran,  to  which  nearly  the  whole  population 
nominally  belongs.  The  people  are  easy  going 
and  light  hearted,  though  somewhat  given  to 
melancholy.  They  are  generous,  hospitable  and 
good  humored.  They  work  hard,  have  a  won- 
derful courage  and  tenacity  of  purpose,  and 
great  political  aptitude,  initiative  and  self- 
confidence.  The  life  of  Copenhagen  is  leisurely 
and  gay  and  not  dissimilar  to  the  life  of  the 
greater  capitals  of  the  continent.  I  have  never 
been  in  a  country  in  which  the  people  seem  more 
free  from  care  and  in  which  the  business  men 
and  workers  have  less  concern  for  the  morrow. 
The  cafes  in  Copenhagen  are  crowded  at  all 
hours  of  the  day.    There  are  splendid  art  col- 


IMPRESSIONS  5 

lections,  while  the  opera  maintains  a  ballet 
second  only  to  that  of  Petrograd. 

Caste.  There  is  little  caste  in  Denmark. 
Birth  or  wealth  count  for  little.  Society  is  open 
to  talent  of  any  kind.  There  is  little  ostentation 
or  display.  The  court  life  is  simple.  Members 
of  the  royal  family  move  among  the  people  in 
a  democratic  way.  Not  that  the  king  is  ignored. 
He  is  a  very  democratic  minded  and  popular 
monarch,  but  the  life  of  the  people  is  so  per- 
vaded with  democracy  that  display  of  any  kind 
seems  out  of  place.  Hereditary  titles  are  no 
longer  bestowed  by  the  Court,  and  the  old  no- 
bility has  ceased  to  exercise  the  political  powers 
which  obtained  in  other  monarchical  nations  of 
Europe.  The  king  advises  rather  than  com- 
mands in  legislation. 

Foreign  Comment  on  the  Dane.  u  National 
well-being  is  as  common  in  Denmark  as  educa- 
tion,' '  says  Dr.  Maurice  F.  Egan,  the  former 
American  Ambassador.  "Her  people  leave  the 
game  of  international  politics  to  others,  but  on 
the  other  hand  they  have  a  fine  capacity  for 
home  activity  and  communal  self-government, 
by  which  all  the  powers  in  a  district  work  to- 
gether for  the  development  of  local  resources 


6  DENMARK 

and  are  ready  to  adapt  themselves  to  changing 
circumstances. ' ' 

A  British  observer  says :  "The  National  char- 
acteristics of  the  Danish  people  are  generosity, 
slowness  of  speech;  a  good  humor  which 
has  become  proverbial;  determination  almost 
amounting  to  truculence,  especially  in  the  case 
of  the  peasants ;  an  immense  capacity  for  hard 
work  and  sustained  effort;  extreme  democratic 
principles ;  a  strange  fatalism  which  is  a  mix- 
ture of  skepticism  and  hesitation ;  and  finally  a 
complete  and  wonderful  fearlessness  in  throw- 
ing over  traditions  and  prejudices."  As  to  the 
great  Danes,  those  in  power  and  authority, 
"they  are  neither  great  optimists  nor  extrava- 
gant idealists.  Their  dreams  are  of  a  very  prac- 
tical nature  and  there  is  about  them  a  certain 
atmosphere  of  clean  and  sane  humanitarianism 
which  is  very  attractive.  They  seem  to  carry 
out  their  reforms  in  a  spirit  of  common  sense 
which  is  almost  scientific.  Perhaps  this  is  be- 
cause their  temperament  is  genuinely,  rather 
than  sentimentally,  democratic.  They  are  a  bal- 
anced people,  their  democracy  is  broad  and 
practical,  and  the  type  is  probably  nearer  Eng- 
lish than  any  other  on  the  continent." 1 

1  Denmark  and  the  Danes,  Harvey  and  Rupien,  p.  26. 


IMPRESSIONS  7 

Intelligence.  The  average  peasant  is  in- 
formed in  a  great  variety  of  subjects.  He  has 
well-defined  notions  on  political  questions  and  a 
remedy  at  hand  for  most  of  them.  I  have  heard 
it  said  that  the  average  peasant  would  go  with- 
out his  breakfast  rather  than  his  daily  paper, 
and  would  walk  for  miles  through  the  snow  to 
attend  a  lecture.  He  is  interested  in  politics,  in 
history,  in  the  traditions  of  his  country.  He  is 
interested  most  of  all  in  agriculture,  in  knowl- 
edge of  the  soil  and  of  animals.  He  reads 
rather  widely,  attends  conventions  and  meetings 
of  various  kinds,  and  is  identified  with  circles 
maintained  in  the  schools  and  community  halls 
by  the  state  or  one  of  the  many  organizations 
of  which  he  is  a  member. 

This  is  the  estimate  of  the  Danish  peasant  by 
scores  of  observers.  Professor  Cooley,  writing 
of  the  culture  of  the  Danish  peasant,  in  the 
Educational  Review,  says:  "The  Danish  peas- 
ant is  the  best  informed  in  the  world.  More 
and  more  class  distinction  is  disappearing 
among  them.  They  have  lost  the  suspicious 
reserve  of  the  usual  peasant  class.  And  not 
only  among  the  peasants  but  among  the  working 
class  there  is  not  that  chasm  between  the  edu- 
cated and  the  uneducated  that  is  found  among 


8  DENMARK 

the  other  countries  of  the  world."1  Yet  fifty 
years  ago  the  Dane  was  no  different  from  the 
peasants  of  the  other  countries  of  Europe. 

Copenhagen,  the  capital,  presents  an  appear- 
ance of  general  well-being  among  all  classes. 
Wages  are  relatively  high.  There  is  little  of 
the  submerged  poverty  so  much  in  evidence  in 
other  large  cities.  Everywhere  too  there  is  evi- 
dence of  widespread  intelligence.  Illiteracy  is 
almost  non-existent.  In  the  country  as  a  whole 
it  is  but  .002  per  cent  of  the  adult  population. 

Social  Customs  and  Domestic  Relations. 
The  Danes  are  very  liberal-minded  in  matters 
delated  to  marriage,  divorce,  the  regulation  of 
the  social  evil,  in  sex  hygiene  and  matters  in- 
volving personal  liberty.  Divorce  is  easy  to 
obtain.  If  both  parties  request  it  no  misconduct 
on  either  side  need  be  proved.  There  are  a 
number  of  causes  for  judicial  divorce,  but  di- 
vorces can  be  secured  by  agreement  of  the 
parties  without  other  allegations.  All  that  is 
required  is  that  the  contracting  parties  should 
appear  before  the  proper  magistrate.  The 
judge  frequently  aims  to  bring  about  a  recon- 
ciliation, but  if  reconciliation  is  impossible  a 

1  Educational  Review,  December,  1914. 


IMPRESSIONS  9 

decree  of  separation  is  ordered  which  becomes 
absolute  at  the  end  of  three  years,  during  which 
period  neither  of  the  parties  can  remarry.  Mere 
incompatibility  of  temperament  is  sufficient 
cause  of  divorce.  As  a  result  there  are  no 
notorious  trials,  no  baring  of  the  personal  lives 
of  the  parties  and  none  of  that  sensational 
publicity  that  attaches  to  divorce  in  the  United 
States  and  England.  Apparently  Denmark  be- 
lieves that  liberty  is  preferable  to  either  state 
or  religious  supervision  of  marital  relations. 
Nothing  is  more  difficult  to  appraise  than  the 
sex  morality  of  a  people.  The  number  of  il- 
legitimate children  in  Copenhagen  is  unusually 
high,  being  about  one  in  every  four.  The  figures 
for  the  country  as  a  whole  is  one  out  of  nine. 
This  would  indicate  very  lax  sex  relations.  But 
these  conditions  have  long  prevailed.  There  is 
little  vulgar  prostitution  in  evidence  in  the  city, 
although  there  is  very  little  official  interference 
with  it.  Up  to  a  short  time  ago,  Copenhagen 
licensed  and  inspected  prostitutes,  as  did  other 
cities  on  the  continent.  In  1906  the  system  of 
licensing  and  inspection  was  abolished  and  pros- 
titution was  no  longer  recognized  by  the  author- 
ities. The  social  evil  is  treated  more  as  a 
hygienic  problem  than  one  of  morals. 


10  DENMARK 

Women  have  recently  been  granted  the  ballot 
and  have  been  admitted  to  office  on  the  same 
basis  as  men,  and  their  status  seems  to  be  one 
of  complete  equality  in  all  the  relations  of  life. 

The  temperance  movement  has  made  great 
progress  in  recent  years  and  abstinence  so- 
cieties now  number  over  200,000  members.  The 
movement  is  not  the  result  of  legal  prohibition, 
nor  is  it  religious  in  character.  It  is  rather  the 
result  of  scientific  and  hygienic  agitation.  A 
distinction  is  drawn  between  inns  and  saloons. 
Licenses  are  granted  to  saloons  or  public  houses 
in  the  country  districts  by  the  county  council, 
provided  the  council  or  majority  of  the  in- 
habitants are  not  opposed.  As  a  rule  one  public 
house  is  allowed  for  350  people.  Licensed 
places  must  close  at  ten  or  eleven  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  except  in  Copenhagen,  where  they  may 
remain  open  until  one  o'clock. 


CHAPTER  II 

FROM  THE  ASHES 

Denmaek  was  a  state  of  substantial  importance 
in  the  affairs  of  Europe  prior  to  the  Napo- 
leonic wars.  Up  to  1814  Norway  formed  part 
of  the  kingdom  as  did  Sleswig  and  Holstein  up 
to  1864.  Holding  a  strategic  position  at  the 
entrance  to  the  Baltic  and  possessed  of  a  sub- 
stantial navy  and  maritime  establishment,  the 
friendship  of  Denmark  was  sought  by  other 
powers,  none  of  which,  with  the  exception  of 
France  and  England,  had  risen  to  anything  like 
their  present  importance. 

During  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century 
Denmark  was  reduced  to  one  of  the  smallest 
countries  of  Europe.  The  nation  sided  with 
Napoleon  and  lost  heavily  as  a  consequence  of 
his  overthrow.  Her  fleet  was  destroyed  in  1807 
at  the  Battle  of  Copenhagen.  By  the  Treaty  of 
Kiel  in  1814,  Norway  was  taken  from  Denmark 
and  united  with  Sweden,  although  by  language 
and  political  affiliations  Norway  is  more  closely 
identified  with  Denmark  than  with  Sweden. 
Norway  was  given  to  Sweden  as  compensation 

n 


12  DENMARK 

for  Finland,  which  Sweden  was  forced  to  yield 
to  Eussia. 

These  territorial  losses  reduced  the  popula- 
tion by  one-third.  The  Napoleonic  wars  ruined 
her  trade.  Her  debt  was  heavy.  The  govern- 
ment was  an  absolute  monarchy  or  "  enlight- 
ened' '  despotism  under  Frederick  VI  (1808- 
1839),  while  the  landed  nobility  filled  all  of  the 
higher  offices  in  the  state.  The  peasants  were 
in  a  state  of  semi-serfdom  as  they  were  all  over 
Europe,  although  the  Scandinavian  countries 
have  always  contained  a  considerable  body  of 
free  landed  proprietors. 

In  1864  Sleswig-Holstein  were  seized  by 
Prussia  and  Austria.  They  were  later  annexed 
by  Prussia.  These  were  the  choicest  and  richest 
of  the  Danish  provinces.  During  a  great  part  of 
the  nineteenth  century  there  were  continuous  in- 
ternal struggles  between  the  king  and  the  landed 
and  commercial  classes  over  a  more  liberal  con- 
stitution. The  liberal  forces,  however,  were 
thwarted,  and  it  was  not  until  late  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  that  the  farmers  acquired  con- 
trol of  the  government. 

Industrial  Depression.  Economic  misfor- 
tunes    increased     the     country's     depression. 


FROM  THE  ASHES  13 

About  the  middle  of  the  century  America, 
Russia  and  Argentina  began  to  compete  with 
the  small-scale  production  of  Denmark.  Against 
this  competition  the  Dane  was  unable  to  make 
any  headway.  He  could  not  produce  wheat  in 
competition  with  the  virgin  soil  of  these  new 
countries.  In  addition  Germany  enacted  a  pro- 
tective tariff  law  which  shut  out  the  farm  prod- 
ucts of  Denmark.  And  Germany  had  always 
been  one  of  her  best  customers. 

The  country  reached  its  lowest  ebb  about  1870. 
There  seemed  to  be  no  escape  from  the  en- 
croachments of  the  greater  powers  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  economic  competition  of  the  newer 
countries  on  the  other.  1 1  The  population, ' '  says 
J.  J.  Marais,  the  biographer  of  Grundtvig,  "was 
slowly  sinking  into  despair  through  economic  as 
well  as  political  disaster.  Markets  were  closed. 
America  from  across  the  sea  had  become  a  com- 
petitor not  to  be  despised.  Germany  had  closed 
its  door  by  a  protective  tariff.  Floods,  droughts, 
epidemics  among  cattle,  plagues  of  all  kinds 
swept  across  the  country  from  time  to  time. 
What  was  to  be  done  ?  How  were  the  peasants 
to  be  heartened  and  kept  to  the  soil?  The  Danes 
were  inclined  to  'Schwermunt'   (melancholy). 


14  DENMARK 

Were  they  to  go  under  and  become  nationally 
and  economically  bankrupt?  Were  they  to  drift 
into  towns  and  become  hopelessly  lost  in  purse 
and  intelligence  and  more  or  less  in  spirit- 
uality I"1 

Denmark  received  but  little  help  from  the 
king  or  the  aristocracy.  Nor  did  the  profes- 
sional classes  aid  materially  in  the  recovery. 
The  awakening  came  from  the  people  them- 
selves. It  was  the  peasants  who  slowly  found 
a  way  out  of  the  problems  of  the  country.  Sym- 
pathetic observers  of  revolutionary  Russia  have 
remarked  on  the  number  of  men  of  talent  who 
forced  their  way  up  from  the  peasant  population 
in  a  few  months '  time.  They  developed  execu- 
tive and  administrative  ability.  America  her- 
self is  a  demonstration  of  the  resourcefulness  of 
the  ordinary  man  if  his  abilities  are  unleashed 
and  he  is  given  an  opportunity  to  express  his 
power.  For  America  was  settled  by  the  poor  of 
Europe,  for  the  most  part  by  the  very  poor. 
Encouraged  by  freedom  and  aided  still  more  by 
economic  opportunity,  talent  and  ability  sprang 
from  the  dispossessed  of  Europe  under  the  in- 
spiration of  a  new  land. 

1  Bishop  Grundtvig  and  the  People's  High  Schools  i/i  Den- 
mark. 


FROM  THE  ASHES  15 

The  Tide  Turns.  The  tide  began  to  turn  in 
the  seventies.  Not  by  chance  but  by  the  self- 
reliance  of  the  people.  "  Outward  loss  inward 
gain,"  became  the  watchword.  World  politics 
and  participation  in  the  affairs  of  Europe  were 
discarded  and  left  to  others.  The  army  and 
navy  were  reduced  to  a  police  force.  A  remark- 
able enthusiasm  for  education  was  awakened. 
Economic  necessity  as  well  as  political  weakness 
determined  the  people  in  this  policy  of  internal 
development. 

The  Dane  refused  to  emigrate  as  did  the  peas- 
ants of  other  countries.  He  did  not  throw  up 
his  hands  and  convert  his  wheat  fields  into  pas- 
tures. Nor  did  he  go  to  parliament  and  demand 
a  protective  tariff  to  shield  him  from  the  com- 
petition of  other  countries.  One  of  the  most 
characteristic  qualities  of  the  Dane  is  his  self- 
reliance.    And  he  is  a  confirmed  free  trader. 

The  New  Agriculture.  The  Danish  farm- 
ers turned  to  intensive  small  scale  cultivation. 
For  wheat  growing  they  substituted  dairying 
and  butter-making.  They  went  into  the  raising 
of  hogs.  They  improved  the  grade  of  cattle  and 
created  a  market  for  their  produce  by  its  su- 
periority.   They  reduced  agriculture  to  a  sci- 


16  DENMARK 

ence.  Through  the  most  persevering  attention 
to  details  and  the  establishment  of  their  own 
marketing  and  buying  agencies  they  gradually 
established  an  uncontested  place  in  the  markets 
of  England  and  Germany.  In  forty  years  *  time 
Denmark  has  become  in  many  ways  the  most 
contented  state  in  the  world.  Education  is  a 
universal  possession.  The  comforts  and  con- 
veniences of  life  are  widely  distributed.  The 
feudal  system  of  land  tenure  has  disappeared 
and  along  with  it  the  political  power  of  the  old 
aristocracy.  All  of  the  important  agencies  of 
buying  and  selling  are  in  the  hands  of  the  peas- 
ants, while  parliament  is  a  very  democratic  body 
and  the  ruling  classes  are  the  peasants  and  the 
working  classes. 

The  change  in  the  style  of  farming  began 
about  1875.  The  peasants  found  that  England 
was  buying  her  butter,  eggs  and  bacon  from  Ire- 
land. They  sent  a  commission  to  the  latter 
country  to  study  how  the  Irish  produced  these 
things.  Then  they  set  to  work  to  win  the  British 
markets.  Soon  Denmark  was  producing  better 
bacon,  better  butter,  better  eggs  than  the  Irish. 
In  recent  years  no  less  than  four  special  com- 
missions have  been  sent  to  Denmark  from  Ire- 
land and  Scotland  to  find  out  how  it  is  done. 


FROM  THE  ASHES  17 

Expoet  Teade.  Before  the  war  Denmark  was 
exporting  food  to  England,  Germany,  South 
America  and  even  to  the  Philippines.  The  fol- 
lowing statistics  indicate  the  growth  of  the  ex- 
port business.  Except  for  the  year  1908,  the 
average  is  for  a  five-year  period. 

Average  export  Average  Exports 

1857-1879  1895-1899  for  1908 

Horses $1,750,000  $2,909,000  $3,200,000 

Cattle    5,250,000  3,000,000  7,000,000 

Bacon  and  lard  . . .          750,000  12,000,000  28,400,000 

Butter     6,500,000  30,000,000  49,150,000 

Eggs    250,000  3,000,000  7,400,000 

Total  $14,500,000    $50,909,000    $95,150,000 

The  exports  in  quantities  from  1881  to  1915, 
by  five-year  averages,  are  as  follows : 

Eggs 
Butter      Bacon  and  Ham        1000  great 
Tons  Tons  hundreds 

Yearly  Yearly  Yearly 

Average  Average  Average 

1881-1885  15,630  7,940  478 

1891-1895 48,070  41,270  1,243 

1901-1905  76,044  76,390  3,531 

1911-1915 99,420  128,840  3,596 

From  1881  to  1912  the  value  of  the  exports 
of  farm  products  increased  from  $25,500,000  to 
$150,000,000.  Most  of  the  horses  and  cattle 
went  to  Germany.  The  bulk  of  the  other  ex- 
ports went  to  England.  The  annual  shipments 
to  England  alone  amounted  to  nearly  $90,000,- 


18  DENMARK 

000  before  the  war  of  which  more  than  one-half 
was  in  butter,  and  the  balance  was  in  bacon  and 
in  eggs.  Denmark  supplies  Great  Britian  with 
these  foods  in  spite  of  the  greater  area,  higher 
fertility  and  greater  natural  advantages  of  the 
latter  country. 

The  total  export  trade  of  Denmark  is  ap- 
proximately $600  for  every  farm,  of  which  133,- 
000  of  the  250,000  are  of  less  than  13#  acres 
in  extent.  The  export  business  alone  amounts 
to  $17.00  per  acre  in  addition  to  the  domestic 
consumption,  as  well  as  the  support  of  the 
farmer  himself. 

The  agricultural  prosperity  of  Denmark  is 
further  indicated  by  the  increase  in  live  stock 
upon  the  farms.  In  1881  there  were  1,470,000 
cattle.  In  1914  the  number  had  increased  to 
2,463,000.  During  the  same  period  the  number 
of  hogs  increased  from  527,000  to  2,497,000. 

The  average  yield  of  butter  of  all  Danish  cows 
in  1864  was  80  pounds,  in  1887  it  was  116 
pounds,  in  1908,  220  pounds.1 

This  is  merely  the  balance  sheet  of  the  coun- 
try as  expressed  in  export  trade.  It  is  an 
indication  of  the  rapid  economic  revival  of  a 


1  Co-operation  in  Danish  Agriculture,  Harald  Faber,  pp.  161 
170. 


FROM  THE  ASHES  19 

country  by  no  means  richly  endowed  and  re- 
duced by  competition  and  adverse  tariff  legis- 
lation to  a  condition  of  despair.  A  large  foreign 
trade  does  not  necessarily  mean  prosperity  to 
a  people,  but  increasing  wealth  production  in 
Denmark  has  been  accompanied  with  an  in- 
crease in  the  well-being  of  all  classes.  Pros- 
perity is  widely  distributed.  The  worker  in  the 
city  and  the  farmer  in  the  country  have  re- 
ceived the  benefit  of  these  gains.  Wealth  is 
more  equitably  divided  than  in  any  other  coun- 
try in  Europe ;  possibly  more  equitably  than  in 
any  other  country  in  the  world. 


CHAPTER  III 

A  PEACEFUL  REVOLUTION 

Measured  by  the  well-being  of  the  people  Den- 
mark is  one  of  the  wealthiest  countries  in  the 
world.  There  is  a  telephone  in  nearly  every 
good-sized  farm  and  upon  all  the  cooperative 
premises.  Farm  machinery  is  widely  used. 
The  deposits  in  the  savings  banks  are  high. 
The  number  of  depositors  is  51  out  of  every  100. 
Seventy-eight  per  cent  of  the  savings  banks  are 
in  rural  districts.  They  are  largely  cooperative 
and  are  managed  by  the  farmers  themselves. 
Manufacturing  is  of  recent  origin  and  minor  im- 
portance. Farming  is  the  all-important  indus- 
try and  the  state  is  consciously  organized  to 
promote  the  well-being  of  the  farmer. 

The  most  distinguishing  thing  about  Danish 
agriculture  is  the  large  number  of  small  farms 
and  the  high  state  of  cultivation  that  prevails. 
There  are  250,000  farms  in  the  country,  of  which 
180,000  are  of  less  than  40  acres,  while  133,000 
are  of  less  than  13y2  acres  in  extent.    There 

20 


A  PEACEFUL  REVOLUTION  21 

are  68,000  farms  less  than  iy2  acres.  Like 
France,  Holland  and  Switzerland,  Denmark  is 
a  country  of  intensive  farming  and  of  widely- 
distributed  farm  ownership.  The  old  feudal 
System  which  still  prevails  in  England,  in  parts 
of  Germany  and  Italy,  has  been  almost  com- 
pletely destroyed  and  the  great  estates  dis- 
tributed among  the  peasants. 

In  spite  of  the  wide  subdivision  of  the  land, 
the  Danish  farmer  is  prosperous.  He  makes  a 
comfortable  living  on  a  very  small  acreage. 
The  average  farm  produces  $600  a  year  for  ex- 
port, in  addition  to  household  use  and  domestic 
consumption.  The  annual  exports  of  farm 
produce  amount  to  $150,000,000.  This  indi- 
cates the  possibilities  of  farming  when  the 
economic  foundations  are  right  and  the  farmer 
is  protected  from  exploitation  and  is  aided  by 
the  state. 

The  Awakening.  A  little  more  than  a  gen- 
eration ago,  conditions  in  Denmark  were  not 
dissimilar  to  the  conditions  in  a  great  part  of 
Europe  today.  The  wheat  fields  of  America 
and  the  discriminatory  legislation  of  Germany 
Were  destroying  Danish  agriculture.  The  Dan- 
ish farmer  could  not  compete  with  the  virgin 


22  DENMARK 

soil  of  newer  countries.  The  country  was  in 
despair. 

A  revival  began  about  1880  when  the  farmers 
entered  politics.  Cooperative  agencies  were 
organized.  They  grew  with  great  rapidity  and 
were  almost  universally  successful.  A  new  type 
of  education  was  introduced  which  gave  a  cul- 
tural interest  to  farming.  During  the  interven- 
ing years,  the  prosperity  of  the  country  has  in- 
creased by  leaps  and  bounds. 

The  peasants'  party  grew  in  political  power. 
It  has  placed  on  the  statute  books  a  series  of 
laws  of  the  most  progressive  sort.  Farm  ten- 
ancy was  seen  to  be  bad.  It  was  bad  for  the 
tenant  and  bad  for  the  country.  It  led  to  in- 
different cultivation.  It  pauperized  the  tenant 
and  left  him  in  ignorance.  So  the  farmers  set 
to  work  to  be  rid  of  landlordism.  They  found 
that  the  tenant  could  not  escape  from  his  posi- 
tion unaided,  for  the  landlords  wanted  to  keep 
him  as  a  tenant.  The  tenant  could  buy  a  farm 
of  his  own  only  on  credit  and  the  landowners 
and  employers  controlled  the  banks  and  opposed 
such  purchases.  A  law  was  enacted  by  which 
the  state  itself  became  the  banker.  It  provided 
the  tenant  and  the  agricultural  worker  with 
money  with  which  to  buy  a  farm.    The  would-be 


A  PEACEFUL  REVOLUTION  23 


•'*„ 


farmer  was  required  to  provide  one-tenth  of  the 
cost.  The  state  provided  the  balance  and  gave 
the  purchaser  a  long  term  of  years  in  which  to 
repay  the  debt.  As  a  result  of  this  legislation 
tenancy  has  rapidly  disappeared. 

The  railroads  are  operated  with  the  same 
ends  in  view.  Not  with  an  eye  for  making 
money  but  with  the  aim  of  hauling  freight  and 
passengers  as  cheaply  as  possible.  Agriculture 
is  built  up  in  this  way.  Waste  lands  were 
opened  up  by  the  building  of  new  lines.  This 
developed  new  farms  which  in  turn  became  a 
source  of  wealth  to  the  state.  Passenger  fares 
were  reduced  to  encourage  travel,  while  freight 
rates  and  classifications  were  worked  out  so  as 
to  enable  the  farmer  to  ship  his  produce  to  Eng- 
land and  Germany  as  advantageously  as  pos- 
feible. 

Democratizing  the  State.  As  a  result  of 
these  and  other  agencies,  Denmark  has  devel- 
oped a  unique  kind  of  civilization.  Poverty  has 
been  greatly  reduced.  The  worker  has  been  pro- 
tected by  various  kinds  of  insurance  and  pen- 
sions. He  too  has  been  educated.  The  state  is 
an  agency  for  promoting  the  well-being  of  the 
people.    There  are  no  privileges  or  they  are  few 


24  DENMARK 

and  unimportant.  The  land  has  been  broken 
up  into  small  holdings;  the  railroads  are 
operated  by  the  state ;  while  the  control  of  bank- 
ing and  credit  is  largely  in  the  hands  of  co- 
operative societies.  The  same  is  true  of  other 
activities.  The  farmer  has  become  a  business 
man,  a  banker,  an  insurance  agent,  and  a  poli- 
tician as  well.  This  has  not  produced  an  un- 
reliant  people.  The  reverse  is  true.  The  Dane 
is  about  the  most  self-reliant  person  in  the 
world.  And  while  he  uses  the  state  in  many 
ways,  he  looks  upon  it  as  a  means  of  securing 
the  widest  possible  liberty  in  his  industrial  re- 
lation. The  Dane  wants  a  free  field  and  no 
favors.  And  he  has  extended  these  rights  to 
others.  He  believes  in  free  trade.  He  has  im- 
posed taxes  on  wealth  and  on  opportunity, 
rather  than  on  thrift  and  consumption.  He  in- 
sists that  the  land  shall  be  used  by  those  best 
fitted  to  use  it  and  that  agriculture  is  best  pro- 
moted through  ownership,  rather  than  through 
tenancy. 

Denmark  has  passed  through  a  peaceful  revo- 
lution in  a  generation's  time.  The  people  have 
been  lifted  to  a  high  degree  of  culture  and  pros- 
perity. This  is  the  comment  of  all  observers. 
"Denmark,"  says  an  English  writer,  "during 


A  PEACEFUL  REVOLUTION  25 

the  last  half  century,  has  passed  through  the 
throes  of  a  wonderful  regeneration.  Her  peas- 
antry has  been  emancipated  from  a  condition  of 
veritable  serfdom;  her  education  has  been 
liberalized;  her  land  system,  agriculture  and 
finance  have  been  reorganized  and  brought  to  a 
pitch  of  excellence  which  is  the  envy  of  many 
a  greater,  less  perfectly  developed,  state.,,1 

The  Gkowth  of  Socialism.  Along  with  the 
emancipation  of  the  serfs  and  the  political  as- 
cendancy of  the  peasants,  Socialism  has  devel- 
oped in  the  cities  and  towns  and  among  the 
agricultural  workers.  The  Socialist-Eadical 
Party  is  now  the  second  largest  party  in  the 
state.  The  socialists  are  for  the  most  part  of 
the  moderate,  evolutionary  type.  They  co- 
operate with  other  radical  parties  and  seek  to 
change  the  structure  of  the  state  by  impressing 
their  views  on  the  majority  of  the  people.  They 
participate  with  the  peasants  and  agricultural 
workers  in  the  government,  although  there  is  a 
rather  marked  cleavage  between  the  socialists 
and  the  well-to-do  farmers  who  have  beon  the 
ruling  class  for  a  generation.  The  socialists 
have  declared  for  a  Danish  republic.   They  have 

1  Denmark  and  the  Danes,  Harvey  and  Rupien,  Foreword. 


26  DENMARK 

been  in  conflict  with  the  king  and  the  govern- 
ment. But  they  have  impressed  themselves 
upon  legislation  and  have  greatly  improved  the 
status  and  condition  of  the  working  classes.1 

Political  democracy  is  almost  complete  in 
Denmark.  It  has  justified  itself.  The  achieve- 
ments of  the  peasants  suggest  that  democracy 
is  possibly  the  most  efficient  of  all  forms  of  gov- 
ernment if  the  people  are  unleashed  and  per- 
mitted to  work  freely  through  simple  and  easily 
understood  machinery.  Denmark  has  demon- 
strated that  government  can  be  used  to  end 
special  privileges  and  bring  in  a  substantial  ap- 
proach to  equality  of  opportunity.  Even  the  man 
farthest  down,  the  husmaend  or  agricultural 
worker,  has  shown  real  political  aptitude  and 
a  class  consciousness  as  to  economic  problems. 

It  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  Denmark  is  a  little 
paradise  or  that  there  is  no  poverty  in  the 
country.  Nearly  one-third  of  the  population 
falls  into  the  employee  class,  and  ten  per  cent 
are  still  tenants.  Yet  the  farm  worker  may  be- 
come an  owner;  so  may  the  tenant  and  the 
artisan.     The  well-being  of  the  people  is  not 

1The  Socialist  Party  polled  in  the  last  election,  September 
21,  1920,  390,000  votes,  compared  with  410,000  for  the  Left 
Party,  216,000  for  the  Conservative  Party,  147,000  for  the 
Radical  Left  Party  and  27,000  for  the  Tradesmen's  Party. 


A  PEACEFUL  REVOLUTION  27 

to  be  measured  by  the  wealth  of  the  individual 
man  so  much  as  by  the  comforts,  conveniences 
and  opportunities  which  he  enjoys.  For  a  man 
may  have  a  relatively  small  income,  but  if  he  is 
able  to  buy  cheaply  and  sell  advantageously,  if 
he  is  protected  from  exploitation,  if  he  is 
guarded  in  old  age  and  sickness  by  insurance 
and  given  an  opportunity  to  rise  by  his  efforts, 
he  may  be  better  off  than  the  man  with  a  much 
higher  money  income  in  another  country.  This 
is  the  kind  of  well-being  that  the  Dane  enjoys. 
The  state  is  his  state,  the  railways  are  his  rail- 
ways, education  is  designed  to  make  life  fuller 
and  richer,  while  transportation,  credit  and 
other  services  are  organized  to  serve  the  aver- 
age man.  Denmark  is  a  nation  of  workers,  of 
middle-class  people,  and  the  life  of  the  country 
is  adjusted  with  the  interest  of  these  classes  in 
view.  Multimillionaires  do  not  exist.  They  do 
not  seem  to  be  necessary.  The  initiative  of  the 
people  has  been  awakened  by  other  rewards 
than  great  wealth.  And  it  finds  ample  oppor- 
tunity to  play  through  the  thousands  of  co- 
operative societies,  the  educational  institutions 
and  the  political  activities  in  which  the  farmer 
and  the  worker  take  an  active  part. 
Democracy  in  Denmark  is  far  more  than  a 


28  DENMARK 

form  of  government.  It  is  an  economic  and  in- 
dustrial thing.  It  is  a  people,  organized  to  use 
the  government  for  the  benefit  of  the  people.  It 
is  economic  rather  than  political  democracy  that 
distinguishes  this  little  state  from  the  other 
countries  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  IV 

COOPERATIVE  MOVEMENT 

The  cooperative  movement  is  the  thing  for 
which  Denmark  is  most  widely  known.  It  is 
the  most  pervasive  thing  in  the  country.  The 
Danish  farmer  performs  for  himself  almost  all 
of  the  functions  that  in  other  countries  are  per- 
formed by  capitalistic  agencies.  He  makes  his 
own  butter  and  cheese.  He  kills  and  sells  his 
own  cattle  and  hogs.  He  collects  his  own  eggs. 
He  buys  food  for  his  cattle  in  distant  markets, 
as  well  as  agricultural  machinery  and  the  sup- 
plies of  his  household.  He  does  his  own  banking 
and  establishes  his  own  credit.  He  insures  his 
house  and  his  live  stock.  He  maintains  breeding 
societies  of  pedigreed  cattle  and  horses.  He 
buys  at  wholesale  and  sells  to  himself  at  retail. 
There  are  2,000  cooperative  retail  stores  in  the 
country.  And  these  cooperative  stores  in  turn 
own  factories,  warehouses,  big  distributing 
agencies  in  Copenhagen  and  elsewhere.  The 
Danish  farmer  is  almost  as  self-contained  as 
was  his  ancestor  of  two  centuries  ago. 

29 


30  DENMARK 

Through  cooperation  the  Danish  farmer  has 
become  his  own  capitalist.  He  performs  the 
functions  of  entrepreneur.  He  does  this  not 
through  state  socialism  but  through  more  than 
4,000  cooperative  societies,  which  he  himself 
owns. 

The  Danish  farmer  labored  under  conditions 
similar  to  those  of  the  United  States  up  to  fifty 
years  ago.  There,  as  in  this  country,  agricul- 
ture was  enveloped  by  middlemen  who  discour- 
aged and  often  impoverished  the  farmer  on  the 
one  hand,  and  exploited  the  consumer  on  the 
other.  The  farmer  had  to  market  through  these 
agencies.    He  had  no  other  alternative. 

The  American  farmer  produces  for  an  un- 
known market.  He  has  to  sell  through  a  hostile 
agency  interested  in  buying  at  the  lowest  pos- 
sible price.  This  is  true  of  almost  every  product 
of  the  farm.  It  is  true  of  wheat  and  of  cattle. 
It  is  true  of  corn  and  oats.  It  is  true  of  truck 
farmers,  of  egg  and  poultry  raisers  and  of  fruit 
growers  as  well.  Food  passes  through  the 
hands  of  a  series  of  middlemen  whose  power  is 
maintained  through  their  identity  with  the  rail- 
roads, terminals,  banks  and  especially  the  pack- 
ers of  Chicago  and  the  West  which  control 


COOPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  31 

slaughtering,  cold  storage  warehouses  and  ter- 
minal facilities.  Even  the  banks  are  involved 
in  this  system.  They  too  are  owned  or  con- 
trolled by  the  packing  syndicate  and  middlemen. 
These  middlemen  and  speculators  fix  the  prices 
which  the  farmer  receives;  they  then  fix  the 
prices  which  the  consumer  pays. 

In  a  lesser  degree  and  on  a  much  smaller 
scale  this  was  the  condition  that  prevailed  in 
Denmark  up  to  about  1880.  And  agriculture 
was  suffering  in  consequence.  The  Danish 
farmer  was  in  a  bad  way.  He  was  not  only 
suffering  from  the  extortion  of  the  distributing 
agencies  of  his  own  country,  he  was  being 
ground  out  by  the  competition  of  the  large  scale 
agriculture  of  America  and  the  prohibitive 
tariff  legislation  of  Germany. 

Extent  of  Coopeeative  Movement.  Co- 
operation has  changed  all  this  in  forty  years' 
time.  Today  250,000  farmers  representing 
40  per  cent  of  the  population,  are  organized 
into  4,000  cooperative  agencies,  which  run  and 
ramify  into  every  activity.  Through  these 
agencies  almost  every  need  of  the  farmer  is 
supplied. 


32  DENMARK 

The  strength  of  the  cooperative  movement  in 
production  alone,  and  the  great  variety  of  so- 
cieties which  the  farmer  has  developed,  is  in- 
dicated by  the  following  table.  The  statistics 
are  for  the  year  1915.  This  does  not  include 
the  Rochdale  consumers  societies  which  are 
widely  developed. 

Number  of  Money  Turnover 

Societies                             Societies  in  year  1915 

Cooperative  dairies  1,203  $105,000,000 

Butter  export 80,050,000 

Slaughterhouses     and     bacon 

factories  44  72,200,000 

Cooperative  egg  export   550  2,200,000 

In  addition  to  these  producing  and  selling 
societies  there  are  fifteen  societies  for  the  pur- 
chase of  goods,  with  70,000  members,  690  cen- 
tral societies  and  1,700  breeding  societies.  The 
total  net  turnover  of  all  the  cooperative  so- 
cieties of  the  country  is  $250,000,000. 

There  are  thirteen  credit  associations  with 
loans  outstanding  to  the  extent  of  $525,000,000 
and  nine  hypothec  societies  with  loans  to  the  ex- 
tent of  $36,000,000.  These  are  cooperative 
credit  or  loan  societies. 

The  number  of  members  in  the  larger  co- 
operative societies  in  1916  was  approximately 
as  follows : 


COOPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  33 

Cooperative  Distributive  Societies 244,000 

Cooperative  Dairy  Societies 190,000 

Cooperative  Bacon  Factories   135,000 

Cooperative  Egg  Export  Societies  45,000 

Cooperative  Manure  Purchasing  Societies 70,000 

Cooperative  Feeding  Stuff  Society,  Jutland  only  44,000 

Cooperative  Breeding  Societies 23,000 

Control  Societies 16,000 


"The  wonderful,  system  of  cooperation  in 
Danish  agriculture, ' '  says  Mr.  Harald  Faber, 
"in  the  highly  developed  form  in  which  we  find 
it  now,  embraces  almost  every  branch  of  agri- 
culture and  agricultural  industry,  and  has  its 
ramifications  in  practically  every  parish  in 
Denmark.  It  has  built  up  an  organization  so 
complete  that  all  the  threads  converge  to  one 
point  from  which  the  joint  action  of  the  whole 
system  is  in  a  certain  measure  controlled.  The 
cooperative  movement  in  Danish  agriculture 
was  not  started  by  a  circle  of  philanthropists 
or  even  by  the  landlords  for  the  purpose  of 
"benefiting  the  practical  farmers.  It  has  grown 
up  locally  and  gradually  among  the  peasants  in 
the  villages,  and  takes  its  root  in  the  feeling  of 
solidarity  and  a  sense  of  the  benefits  of  mutual 
help  among  the  peasants  which  can  be  traced 
back  to  remote  centuries."  x 

In  addition  to  the  societies  for  the  manufac- 

1  Co-operation  in  Danish  Agriculture,  Faber,  p.  ix. 


34  DENMARK 

ture  and  sale  of  farm  produce  and  the  control 
of  production,  the  cooperative  stores  did  a  busi- 
ness in  1915  of  $28,500,000  and  had  a  member- 
ship of  245,000  persons. 

Daikying.  Universal  as  the  cooperative 
movement  is,  it  is  but  forty  years  old.  It  has 
spread  from  small  beginnings,  as  it  did  in  Great 
Britain,  until  it  has  become  the  most  pervasive 
institution  in  the  country.  It  is  woven  into  the 
texture  of  agriculture  and  is  the  activity  around 
about  which  the  interests,  economic,  political 
and  social,  of  250,000  farmers  center.  Nearly 
every  interest  of  the  farmer  revolves  about 
the  cooperative  movement.  The  prices  he  pays, 
the  income  he  receives,  his  standard  of  living, 
his  political  action,  are  all  shaped  by  his  associ- 
ation with  other  farmers  and  the  community  of 
interest  which  has  come  to  exist  through  the 
many  activities  of  the  cooperative  societies. 

The  movement  began  with  dairying.  Prior 
to  1881,  the  Danish  farmer  was  almost  as  in- 
dividualistic in  his  business  dealings  as  is  the 
American  farmer  today.  Each  peasant  made 
his  own  butter.  He  sold  it  as  best  he  could. 
He  had  to  rely  on  the  food  traders  who  can- 
vassed the  country.     Or  else  he  sold  in  the 


COOPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  35 

nearby  town.  The  process  was  costly;  the  re- 
turns received  were  uncertain.  The  small 
farmer,  of  whom  there  were  many  thousands, 
was  at  a  great  disadvantage.  For  he  had  to 
find  his  own  market  and  battle  for  his  own 
interests. 

In  1881  a  group  of  farmers  got  together  and 
decided  to  organize  a  cooperative  dairy  of  their 
own.  They  worked  out  a  very  simple  plan  of 
organization,  which  plan  has  been  followed  ever 
since.  The  members  bound  themselves  to  de- 
liver all  their  milk  to  their  own  dairy  except 
such  as  was  used  at  home.  They  bound  them- 
selves to  be  individually  responsible  for  any 
debts  that  might  be  incurred.  If  the  dairy  made 
any  profits  they  were  to  be  divided  among  the 
members  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  milk 
each  delivered. 

Success  of  the  Coopeeative  Dairy.  The  co- 
operative dairy  was  an  immediate  success.  It 
produced  better  butter  than  did  the  individual 
farmer.  It  made  it  possible  to  standardize  out- 
put, and  in  time  to  demand  better  prices.  From 
this  small  beginning  the  movement  spread  very 
rapidly  to  other  districts.  From  1882  to  1888 
cooperative  dairies  were  built  all  over  the  coun- 


36  DENMARK 

try.  By  1914  the  total  number  of  dairies  had 
risen  to  1,503,  of  which  1,168  were  cooperative. 
Over  one-half  of  these  cooperative  dairies  were 
built  before  1890. 

The  dairy  awakened  the  farmers  to  the  scien- 
tific possibilities  of  dairying  and  of  cattle  breed- 
ing. They  took  care  to  deliver  milk  in  good  con- 
dition and  to  see  that  their  neighbors  did  the 
same.  When  all  of  the  farmers  of  a  district 
were  members,  a  single  van  collected  the  milk 
from  every  farm.  This  reduced  the  cost  of  cart- 
age. Among  the  economies  was  the  skimmed 
milk  which  they  saved  for  themselves.  They 
used  it  to  feed  their  hogs.  This  stimulated  the 
bacon  industry,  and  brought  about  the  opening 
of  cooperative  slaughterhouses.  Technical  im- 
provements were  introduced  that  improved  both 
the  quantity  and  the  quality  of  the  butter.  Soon 
the  cooperative  dairy  butter  surpassed  the  cele- 
brated "Estate  Butter"  for  which  Denmark 
had  been  famous. 

The  cooperative  dairies  were  of  especial  value 
to  the  small  farmer.  The  man  with  one  or  two 
cows  now  had  a  sure  market.  This  contributed 
to  the  development  of  small  holdings.  Today  90 
per  cent  of  the  farmers  are  members  of  co- 
operative dairies.    The  number  of  cows  kept  on 


COOPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  37 

the  average  farm  of  seventy  acres  has  been  in- 
creased from  eight  to  eleven,  while  the  yield  of 
milk  per  cow  and  the  percentage  of  fat  realized 
from  the  milk  has  also  increased.  The  number 
of  cows  in  Denmark  in  1881  was  899,000.  By 
1914  the  number  had  increased  to  1,310,000. 
The  export  of  butter  increased  from  an  average 
of  15,630  tons  1881  to  1885  to  an  average  of 
99,420  tons  1911  to  1915. 

More  than  three-quarters  of  the  milk  pro- 
duced in  Denmark  is  handled  by  the  cooperative 
dairies,  while  86  per  cent  of  the  properties 
which  have  cows,  including  83  per  cent  of  the 
total  number  of  cows  in  the  country,  deal  with 
these  dairies.  Those  property  owners  who  re- 
main aloof  are  chiefly  the  owners  of  large  es- 
tates on  the  smaller  islands. 

The  cooperative  dairy  is  putting  the  private 
dairy  out  of  business.  Between  1900  and  1914 
the  private  dairies  decreased  in  number  from 
511  to  212  while  the  cooperative  dairies  in- 
creased from  1,029  to  1,167. 

Gains  to  the  Farmer.  The  advantages  of 
the  cooperative  dairy  to  the  farmer  in  addition 
to  the  economies  in  charges,  are  many.  It  se- 
cures cheaper  transportation  rates,  scientific 


38  DENMARK 

packing  and  the  regular  despatch  of  a  uniform 
quality  and  quantity,  which  can  only  be  achieved 
through  large  scale  organization.  Perfect  pack- 
ing is  an  absolute  necessity  in  preserving  the 
excellence  of  butter.  "When  the  dairies  are 
united  into  federations  for  export,  as  is  the  case 
in  Denmark,  the  individual  farmer,  however 
small,  is  provided  with  the  best  possible  facil- 
ities for  marketing. 

By  affiliating  himself  with  a  dairy  the  farmer 
derives  certain  other  benefits.  He  has  a  regular 
weekly  settlement  from  the  dairy  which  handles 
his  milk  and  he  contracts  no  bad  debts.  He  is 
not  compelled  to  be  a  merchant  as  well  as  a 
farmer.  Furthermore  he  receives  a  share  in  the 
profits  of  distribution  and  thus  saves  middle- 
men's profits. 

How  Dairies  Are  Organized.  The  usual 
method  of  establishing  a  dairy  is  for  a  certain 
number  of  farmers  in  a  locality  to  get  together, 
and  borrow  the  necessary  capital  from  a  savings 
bank.  All  the  dairies  work  with  unlimited  lia- 
bility. The  original  funds  for  construction  pur- 
poses are  repaid  in  installments,  while  the  work- 
ing capital  is  supplied  by  a  guarantee  of  a  few 
dollars  per  cow,  paid  by  each  member.    When 


COOPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  39 

the  original  loan  is  paid  off,  as  it  must  be  every 
ten  or  fifteen  years,  a  new  loan  is  taken  out  from 
the  bank  at  the  same  rate  of  interest  and  is 
charged  upon  the  working  expenses  of  the  so- 
ciety, including  both  original  and  new  members. 
The  money  thus  obtained  is  handed  over 
to  the  original  members  and  then  all  alike  pro- 
ceed to  pay  off  the  new  loan,  and  so  on  through 
an  indefinite  series  of  loans  and  repayments. 
The  savings  banks  are  thus  interested  directly 
in  the  development  of  the  dairies.1 

Accounts  are  settled  every  week  or  two,  and 
in  such  a  way  that  after  deducting  the  costs  of 
production  the  members  are  paid  the  full  price 
for  the  milk  which  they  furnish,  while  on  the 
other  hand,  the  farmers  buy  the  skim  milk  and 
the  buttermilk  at  fixed  prices,  so  that  the  mem- 
bers are  paid  the  money  due  to  them.  The  sums 
deducted  under  the  head  of  costs  of  production 
are  ample  to  cover  a  margin  of  loss,  and  thus  an 
important  amount  is  saved  in  the  course  of  a 
year,  which  is  finally  turned  over  to  the  mem- 
bers as  a  dividend  which  is  divided  among  them 
in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  milk  furnished 
by  each.  In  1909  this  sum  amounted  to  34  mil- 
lion kroner. 

1  Cooperation  at  Home  and  Abroad,  C.  R.  Ray,  p.  169. 


40  DENMARK 

The  cooperative  dairies  are  governed  in  a 
very  democratic  way.  In  most  dairies  each 
member  has  one  vote,  whatever  may  be  the  num- 
ber of  cows  he  possesses.  Only  in  6  per  cent 
of  the  creameries  have  the  richer  farmers 
greater  influence.  The  farmers  elect  the  board 
of  directors  from  among  their  own  number  and 
appoint  a  dairy  manager,  who  is  always  an 
expert. 

The  local  cooperatives  are  united  into  central 
federations  with  various  objects,  which  aim  at 
developing  the  dairying  industry  by  expositions, 
conferences  and  collecting  material  to  spread  a 
knowledge  of  dairy  economy.  In  1909  there 
were  21  creamery  unions  for  this  purpose.  The 
Society  for  Collective  Purchase  of  Danish 
Creameries,  established  in  1901  is  another  co- 
operative society  which  procures  for  the  dairies 
all  machinery,  etc.  at  the  lowest  possible  prices. 

The  constitution  of  the  dairy  always  provides 
that  the  members  must  for  a  fixed  period — ten 
or  fifteen  years — bring  all  their  milk  except 
what  they  need  for  household  use,  to  the  co- 
operative dairy.  Heavy  fines  are  imposed  for 
infractions  of  this  rule.  Strict  rules  are  laid 
down  relative  to  proper  feeding  of  the  cows, 
sanitary  milking,  etc. 


COOPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  41 

About  the  only  thing  the  government  does  is 
"to  look  to  the  maintenance  of  the  standard  of 
butter.  Butter  for  export  must  have  no  more 
than  16  per  cent  of  water  and  no  other  ingre- 
dient than  common  salt  may  be  used  as  a  pre- 
servative. Annual  butter  exhibits  are  also  held 
under  the  patronage  and  with  the  financial  sup- 
port of  the  state. 

Incbease  in  Business.  The  cooperative 
dairy  has  been  of  greatest  value  to  the  small 
farmer.  According  to  Mr.  Faber:  "  there  are 
more  than  70,000  farms  in  their  possession, 
nearly  all  freehold,  occupying  over  70  per  cent 
of  the  cultivated  area.  Of  these  yeoman 
farmers  nearly  90  per  cent  are  members  of  a 
cooperative  dairy  society.  In  former  times, 
that  is,  before  1842,  an  average  peasant  farm  of 
about  70  acres  would  keep  normally  eight  cows. 
The  yield  of  these  was  hardly  above  380  gallons 
of  milk  or  110  lbs.  of  butter.  For  this  the 
farmer  would  get  about  5  d.  (10  cents)  per  lb. 
below  the  price  of '  estate  butter  \  The  coopera- 
tive dairies  changed  all  this.  The  number  of 
cows  was  increased,  and  their  quality  improved. 
Eleven  cows  would  be  the  average  number  on 
a  farm  of  70  acres;  their  milk  yield  was  in- 


42  DENMARK 

creased  to  550  gallons  with  200  lbs.  of  butter. 
The  quantity  of  butter  produced  per  farm  in- 
creased from  880  lbs.  to  2,200  lbs.,  and  each 
pound  realized  full  market  price  instead  of  5 
pence  below. 

"The  number  of  cows  in  Denmark  in  1881 
was  899,000.  By  1914  the  number  had  increased 
to  1,310,000.  The  yield  of  milk  per  cow  and  the 
percentage  of  fat  in  the  milk  were  increased, 
and  the  fat  was  more  completely  utilized  for 
butter-making.  At  the  same  time  the  increased 
consumption  of  margarine  set  a  corresponding 
quantity  of  butter  free  for  export.  From  all 
this  has  resulted  a  rapidly  increased  export  of 
butter  from  Denmark,  as  is  shown  by  the  fol- 
lowing table. ' '  * 

Export  of  Danish  Butter  Tons 

1881-1885 15,630 

1891-1895  48,070 

1901-1905 76,044 

1911-1915 99,420 

Slaughtering  and  the  Bacon  Industry.  The 
bacon  industry  was  stimulated  by  the  use  of 
skimmed  milk  and  buttermilk  for  the  feeding  of 
hogs.  This  in  turn  led  to  the  building  of  co- 
operative slaughterhouses  and  pork  packing  so- 
cieties.    The   first   cooperative   abattoir   was 

1  Faber,  supra,  p.  45. 


COOPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  43 

formed  in  1887.  During  the  next  few  years 
eleven  more  were  organized.  There  are  now  46 
cooperative  slaughterhouses  in  the  country. 
They  have  a  total  membership  of  141,500  and 
kill  annually  about  2,169,000  hogs.  The  capital 
invested  is  $4,000,000  or  an  average  of  $86,000 
per  abattoir.  Since  1882  the  business  of  the  co- 
operative slaughterhouse  has  grown  from  23,- 
400  to  over  2,000,000  hogs  a  year. 

The  Danish  method  of  slaughtering  and  the 
handling  of  meats  is  a  lesson  to  America  in 
many  ways.  Fifty  years  ago  slaughtering  in 
this  country  was  done  in  local  slaughterhouses. 
The  farmer  had  a  local  market  for  his  meat. 
He  brought  in  his  cattle  and  hogs  and  sold  them 
to  the  local  buyer.  They  were  killed  in  the  local 
slaughterhouses  and  sold  to  the  local  consumers. 
The  only  intermediary  between  the  farmer  and 
the  consumer  was  the  local  butcher.  This  gave 
the  farmer  an  assured  market.  It  provided  va- 
riety in  farming.  And*  it  kept  down  the  cost  of 
living.  There  was  no  difficulty  about  it;  no 
great  investment  was  required,  and  the  con- 
sumer was  protected  from  extortion  by  the  keen- 
est kind  of  competition.  Today  the  price  of 
cattle  is  controlled  by  the  packers'  syndicate. 
Practically  all  the  meat  in  the  country  is  killed 


44  DENMARK 

in  Chicago,  Kansas  City,  Omaha,  St.  Joseph  and 
Fort  Worth.  It  is  hauled  to  these  points,  often 
thousands  of  miles  from  California,  Oregon 
and  Washington.  The  dressed  meat  is  often 
shipped  thousands  of  miles  to  the  consumer. 
The  killing  of  meat  and  its  handling  is  monop- 
olized by  a  single  syndicate,  which  fixes  the 
price  of  beef  on  the  hoof  to  6,000,000  farmers 
and  the  price  paid  by  the  consumer  all  over  the 
country.  Through  the  control  of  the  meat  sup- 
ply and  by-products,  local  slaughterhouses  have 
been  destroyed,  and  the  individual  farmer,  pos- 
sessing from  one  to  a  dozen  cattle,  has  been  de- 
prived of  his  local  market.  This  has  destroyed 
the  raising  of  cattle  in  many  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. It  has  had  the  same  effect  on  hogs  and 
sheep  raising.  It  has  also  ended  competition. 
Most  important  of  all,  it  has  contributed  largely 
to  the  decay  of  agriculture  and  the  profitless- 
ness  of  small  farms  and  farming  in  the  eastern 
states. 

The  Danes  have  reversed  this  process.  In 
this  little  country  there  are  46  abattoirs  owned 
by  the  farmers,  in  addition  to  the  privately 
owned  plants.  There  is  one  within  easy  access 
of  every  farm,  and  they  are  as  efficiently  and 
economically  run.    Their  average  cost  is  about 


COOPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  45 

$86,000,  showing  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  con- 
centrate the  killing  of  cattle  in  great  plants  or 
to  expend  large  sums  on  the  industry.  There  is 
no  more  reason  why  slaughtering  in  America 
should  not  be  a  local  industry  than  in  Denmark. 

The  cooperative  slaughterhouses  are  organ- 
ized as  are  the  cooperative  dairies.  Members 
enter  into  an  agreement  to  bring  all  of  their 
hogs  to  the  cooperative  slaughterhouse,  even 
though  they  are  offered  higher  prices  elsewhere. 
The  cooperatives  have  learned  by  experience 
that  to  permit  private  slaughterhouses  to  under- 
mine their  members  means  the  destruction  of 
the  cooperative  abattoir  and  then  a  reduction  of 
prices  to  the  farmer. 

Cooperative  slaughtering  is  as  successful  as 
the  cooperative  dairies.  The  owners  of  70  per  ^f 
cent  of  the  hogs  in  Denmark  are  now  members 
of  these  societies.  In  1913  the  farmers  exported 
bacon  to  the  value  of  $43,500,000  while  the  total 
exports  of  live  cattle  amounted  to  $18,500,000. 

The  cooperative  abattoirs  have  more  compe- 
tition from  the  private  abattoirs  than  have  the 
cooperative  dairies,  but  the  field  is  rapidly  com- 
ing into  possession  of  the  cooperatives. 

About  one-half  of  the  farmers,  who  own  about 
two-thirds  of  the  total  number  of  pigs,  are  con- 


46  DENMARK 

nected  with  the  cooperative  abattoirs.  In  1909 
the  sum  paid  by  the  cooperative  slaughterhouses 
for  pigs  was  83.3  million  kroner,  to  which  must 
be  added  8.6  million  kroner  paid  to  members 
at  the  end  of  the  year  as  dividends. 

Selling  the  Pkoducts  of  the  Faem.  The 
Danish  farmers  soon  found  it  necessary  to  carry 
cooperation  a  step  further.  They  had  to  control 
the  distribution  of  their  produce  in  England, 
which  country  is  the  chief  market  of  Danish 
bacon  and  eggs.  They  did  this  in  a  character- 
istically independent  way  by  forming  the  Dan- 
ish Bacon  Society  of  London  as  a  selling  agency. 
They  now  sell  directly  and  are  almost  as  self- 
contained  as  is  the  American  packing  syndicate. 
This  ended  the  power  of  the  bacon  trust.  It  also 
insured  the  farmers  a  secure  market  for  their 
products. 

Egg  Societies.  The  Danish  farmer  also  col- 
lects, packs,  ships  and  sells  his  eggs,  through  co- 
operative agencies.  Most  of  them  go  to  London. 
They  are  recognized  for  their  freshness  and 
evenness  of  quality  and  bring  high  prices.  All 
this  is  done  through  the  Danish  Cooperative 
Egg  Export  Societies,  or  the  D.  A.  M.,  as  the 


COOPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  47 

society  is  called.  It  is  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing of  the  cooperative  agencies  in  the  country. 
And  it  indicates  the  perseverance  of  the  Danish 
farmer  and  the  scrupulous  care  to  which  he  will 
go  to  protect  himself  and  the  good  reputation 
of  his  product.  There  are  now  a  total  of  550 
egg  export  organizations  in  the  country  with 
45,000  members. 

Prior  to  about  1880  the  control  of  eggs  and 
poultry  was  in  the  hands  of  middlemen  much 
as  it  is  in  the  United  States.  They  sent  buyers 
about  the  country  who  purchased  the  eggs  for 
shipment  to  the  British  market  at  an  agreed 
upon  price.  The  speculators  withheld  the  eggs 
for  the  winter  market  in  order  to  secure  higher 
prices.  The  eggs  were  not  always  fresh  when 
marketed  and  the  Danish  producer  suffered  in 
consequence.  The  farmers  tried  to  control  the 
situation  among  themselves  by  agreeing  to  de- 
liver only  fresh  eggs.  But  they  were  balked  in 
their  efforts  by  the  speculators  who  withheld 
the  eggs  for  winter  prices.  Finally  the  farmers 
realized  that  they  must  find  some  means  of  get- 
ting past  the  middlemen,  just  as  they  had  in  the 
case  of  butter  and  bacon.  So  they  organized  a 
society  to  collect,  store  and  distribute  eggs 
themselves.    The  movement  began  in  a  small 


48  DENMARK 

way  as  it  did  in  the  case  of  dairying.  Each 
farmer,  when  joining  the  society,  agreed  to  sub- 
ject himself  to  a  fine  if  he  delivered  stale  eggs. 
And  to  insure  the  date  of  delivery  the  society 
adopted  a  trademark  and  also  certain  numerals 
which  are  stamped  on  the  egg  and  indicate  the 
district  and  the  farmer  from  which  they  come. 

The  original  society  was  formed  in  1895.  It 
now  has  branches  all  over  the  country.  Each 
branch  has  a  distinctive  number  for  identifica- 
tion purposes,  while  each  member  has  an  iden- 
tification number  of  his  own.  These  numbers 
are  put  on  the  egg  by  a  rubber  stamp.  By  these 
means  stale  eggs  can  readily  be  traced  back  to 
the  seller  and  a  fine  imposed.  The  collection  is 
done  by  agents  to  each  one  of  whom  a  district 
is  assigned.  After  collection  the  eggs  are 
shipped  to  Copenhagen  for  packing  and  ex- 
port. 

Growth  of  Egg  Exports.  The  Cooperative 
Egg  Export  Association  soon  grew  to  24 
branches  with  3,000  individual  members.  It 
now  has  550  branches  and  45,000  members.  The 
turnover  the  first  year  of  its  operation  was 
$195,500.    In  1915  it  was  $2,130,000. 

The  speculators  opposed  the  Cooperative  in 


COOPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  49 

every  possible  way.  But  as  the  society  sold 
only  fresh  eggs,  and  as  it  stood  behind  its  guar- 
antee it  soon  received  higher  prices  for  its 
products  than  the  private  dealers  could  obtain. 
This  forced  the  private  dealers  to  raise  their 
standards.  They,  too,  had  to  reject  the  stale 
eggs  and  throw  them  back  on  the  producers. 
This  drove  the  independent  farmers  into  the 
society.  And  it  automatically  led  to  the  im- 
provement of  the  reputation  of  the  Danish  egg. 
In  three  years'  time  exports  to  England  in- 
creased seven-fold,  while  the  price  received  in- 
creased with  the  improvement  in  quality.  The 
egg  industry  is  not  yet  as  exclusively  under  co- 
operative control  as  is  the  dairy  and  bacon  in- 
dustry. Only  about  one  farmer  out  of  five  in 
1909  was  a  member  of  the  cooperative  society. 
The  result  of  the  cooperative  movement  has 
been  to  standardize  the  Danish  egg  and  to  raise 
the  price  to  all  of  the  farmers.  In  addition,  the 
control  of  the  market  by  the  middleman  has  been 
broken.  And  just  as  the  cooperative  dairies  and 
cooperative  slaughterhouses  increased  the  pro- 
duction of  butter  and  bacon,  so  under  the  co- 
operative idea  the  number  of  fowls  in  the 
country  had  increased  from  5,900,000  in  1893  to 
15,100,000  in  1914. 


50  DENMARK 

The  Egg  Export  Society  is  made  up  of  550 
branches  firmly  united  into  a  single  organiza- 
tion. The  by-laws  require  the  members  to  sell 
all  their  eggs  to  the  society,  to  collect  the  eggs 
daily  from  the  nests  and  to  deliver  them  weekly 
to  the  local  collector.  The  net  surplus  of  earn- 
ings is  distributed  at  the  end  of  the  year,  one- 
half  going  to  the  local  branch  for  distribution 
to  its  members  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
eggs  delivered,  the  other  half  being  placed  in 
a  reserve  as  working  capital. 

The  egg  export  associations  had  amassed  a 
reserve  fund  of  $50,000  by  1908  and  had  re- 
turned to  its  members  the  guarantee  papers  on 
which  the  original  loans  were  obtained. 

Danish  eggs,  like  Danish  butter  and 
bacon,  bring  fancy  prices.  They  are  always 
fresh,  and  they  have  a  standardized  value  in 
the  British  market,  to  which  the  great  bulk  of 
the  eggs  are  shipped.  The  central  warehouse 
of  the  society  is  in  Copenhagen.  Here  the  eggs 
are  cleaned,  candled  and  graded  for  export. 
Bad  eggs  are  rejected  and  the  good  eggs 
stamped  for  export. 

Bad  eggs  are  charged  to  the  account  of  the 
farmer  who  sends  them  in.    He  is  warned  and 


COOPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  51 

fined.    If  he  repeats  the  offense  he  may  be 
expelled  from  the  society. 

The  Danish  farmer  also  buys  collectively. 
He  buys  food  for  his  cattle,  agricultural  ma- 
chinery and  all  kinds  of  farm  and  household 
supplies  in  this  way.  He  does  this  through 
wholesale  cooperative  stores  at  Copenhagen 
which  distribute  bulk  produce  to  the  retail  co- 
operative stores  scattered  throughout  the  coun- 
try. And  the  cooperative  store  is  to  be  found 
in  every  village.  The  wholesale  cooperatives 
which  buy  for  the  locals  are  organized  and 
financed  by  the  local  cooperatives  and  are  man- 
aged by  representatives  of  the  local  organiza- 
tions. 

The  Cooperative  Store.  An  official  investi- 
gation of  the  cooperative  stores  or  societies  in 
Denmark  made  in  1919  reports  1,691  stores,  with 
a  total  membership  of  317,000.  This  means  that 
every  tenth  inhabitant  in  Denmark  is  a  mem- 
ber of  a  cooperative  store,  as  compared  with 
every  fifteenth  in  England  and  every  twenty- 
ninth  in  Germany.  Of  these,  1,613  were  in 
rural  districts,  17  were  in  Copenhagen,  and  77 
in  the  smaller  towns.    An  inquiry  made  in 


52  DENMARK 

1910  of  the  wholesale  societies  showed  that  32 
per  cent  of  the  members  were  peasants,  41  per 
cent  were  small  holders  or  husmaend,  and  27  per 
cent  were  laborers. 

Coopeeative  Wholesale.  The  Cooperative 
Wholesale  Society  of  Denmark  was  formed  in 
1896.  It  has  branches  and  warehouses  in  12 
smaller  towns,  besides  the  head  offices  and  ware- 
houses in  Copenhagen.  The  society  has  erected 
several  factories  for  roasting  coffee,  for  making 
chocolate,  confectionery,  tobacco  and  cigars.  It 
has  a  soap,  a  mustard  and  a  margarine  factory. 
It  owns  a  chemical  works,  a  spice  mill,  a  hosiery 
factory,  and  a  factory  for  men's  ready-made 
clothing.  The  wholesale  society  has  a  bicycle 
factory,  it  imports  its  own  tea,  and  it  owns 
shares  in  a  shoe  factory.  Only  cooperative 
stores  can  be  members  of  a  wholesale  society. 
They  organize  the  wholesale,  subscribe  for  the 
capital  stock  and  manage  the  business.  In  1916, 
1,537  local  societies  were  members  of  the  whole- 
sale, representing  240,000  members.  The  whole- 
sale society  had  a  turnover  in  sales  of  $23,- 
500,000  with  a  net  surplus  of  $1,965,000,  while 
the  total  turnover  of  the  various  factories  was 
nearly    $5,000,000.      The    reserve    fund    was 


COOPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  53 

$1,575,000,  and  the  book  value  of  the  buildings 
$1,400,000. 

In  1888  the  gross  profit  was  2>4  per  cent.  It 
is  now  VA  per  cent.  The  net  profit  has  in- 
creased in  the  same  proportion,  from  %  oi 
one  per  cent  to  more  than  5  per  cent  in 
spite  of  the  higher  wages  now  paid  to  the  em- 
ployees. 

Besides  the  Wholesale  Cooperative  and  its 
local  branches  there  existed  in  1909  some  fifteen 
cooperative  societies,  some  large  and  some 
small,  for  the  purchase  of  grain,  food  supplies, 
seeds  and  fertilizers,  with  a  turnover  of  32  mil- 
lion kroner.  The  turnover  of  these  societies  in 
1900  had  been  only  5,400,000  kroner.  The  num- 
ber of  members  rose  during  the  same  period 
from  20,000  to  70,000.  The  number  of  inde- 
pendent societies  of  this  kind  varies  from  year 
to  year,  small  ones  often  becoming  branches  of 
larger  ones.  The  largest  association  of  this 
kind  is  the  Cooperative  Feeding  Stuff  Society 
of  Jutland,  which  has  a  membership  of  30,000 
and  has  annual  sales  of  $5,000,000.* 

1  For  further  information  see  Agricultural  Co-operation  and 
Rural  Credit  in  Europe,  p.  545;  Denmark  and  the  Danes,  Wm. 
Harvey  and  Rupien,  p.  156,  and  Agricultural  Co-operation, 
p.  570. 


54  DENMARK 

Improvement  and  Breeding  Societies.  Co- 
operation is  not  confined  to  the  selling  of  farm 
products  and  the  buying  of  merchandise  and 
farm  supplies.  The  movement  has  invaded 
other  fields  of  industry  and  service.  There  .are 
cooperative  fertilizer  plants  and  canning  fac- 
tories. Cow  and  swine  improvement  and  breed- 
ing societies  are  maintained  as  are  seed-testing 
organizations.  Almost  every  need  of  the  farmer 
is  supplied  through  one  or  more  organizations 
of  this  kind.  There  are  societies  for  accident  in- 
surance, insurance  against  hail  and  other 
storms,  and  for  the  insurance  of  live  stock. 
Cooperative  societies  exist  to  prevent  tuber- 
culosis in  cattle,  as  well  as  "control  societies" 
which  keep  account  of  the  milk  of  different 
breeds  of  cows  and  employ  experts  to  study  the 
yield  per  cow  and  the  amount  of  fodder  con- 
sumed. There  is,  in  fact,  scarcely  an  activity 
or  an  agricultural  need  that  is  not  represented 
by  its  own  cooperative  organization.  When- 
ever a  want  arises,  the  farmers  organize  for  its 
solution.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  a  farmer  to 
be  a  member  of  a  dozen  or  more  different  co- 
operative societies. 

The  breeding  of  cattle,  horses,  swine  and 
sheep   is   promoted  by   cooperative   societies. 


COOPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  55 

The  government  subsidizes  these  central  so- 
cieties and  aids  them  in  other  ways.  There 
were  1,884  such  societies  in  the  country  in  1909. 

The  central  societies  aim  to  improve  the 
breed  of  farm  animals  by  keeping  accounting 
systems  as  to  the  quantity  of  milk  produced  per 
cow,  its  contents  in  butter  fat,  as  well  as  the 
relative  cost  for  maintenance.  By  such  obser- 
vation the  best  breeds  of  cattle  are  ascertained. 
The  first  central  society  was  established  in 
1895.  In  1913  there  were  592  such  societies,  all 
of  which  receive  some  subsidy  from  the  state. 
An  inspector  visits  each  farmer  within  the  so- 
ciety every  eighteen  days.  The  annual  return 
in  milk  is  much  greater  in  the  case  of  cows 
under  the  control  of  these  societies  than  in  the 
case  of  cows  in  general,  the  average  yield  for 
the  two  classes  being  3,080  and  2,660  kilos  re- 
spectively. 

The  farmer  is  also  a  banker.  There  are  521 
cooperative  savings  banks  in  the  country.  In 
1911  their  deposits  amounted  to  $216,000,000 
and  the  number  of  depositors  to  1,352,000,  or 
about  one-half  the  total  population.  The  aver- 
age deposit  was  $160. 

The  directors  of  the  cooperative  banks  are 
usually  farmers.    They  give  their  services  free. 


56  DENMARK 

They  pass  upon  the  loans  to  their  neighbors. 
Only  the  president  receives  a  small  salary.  The 
banks  are  opened  twice  a  month  for  the  making 
of  loans  and  the  supervision  of  the  books  and 
the  credits.  A  novel  thing  about  the  bank  is 
that  the  profits  do  not  go  back  to  the  share- 
holders ;  they  are  used  for  educational  and  com- 
munity purposes. 

The  cooperative  movement  is  wholly  volun- 
tary. It  receives  no  subsidy  from  the  state. 
Nor  is  it  subject  to  regulation  of  any  kind.  The 
various  cooperatives  are  independent  of  one  an- 
other and  spring  into  existence  when  the  farmer 
finds  himself  confronted  with  some  activity  to 
be  undertaken  or  some  new  need  to  be  supplied. 
The  state,  however,  cooperates  with  individual 
members  and  encourages  agriculture  in  every 
possible  way.  Shipping  rates  on  the  railroads 
are  very  low ;  so  low,  in  fact,  that  there  is  little 
or  no  margin  of  profit.  The  government  sub- 
sidizes the  mail  routes  to  England,  which 
country  is  the  farmer's  best  market. 

This  is  as  far  as  the  government  goes  in  the 
supervision  of  the  cooperative  movement. 

The  Danish  Cooperative  Bank.  The  latest 
development  in  Danish  cooperation  is  a  co- 


COOPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  57 

operative  bank  organized  and  owned  by  the 
cooperative  societies.  The  bank  was  organized 
in  1914  and  has  its  headquarters  in  Copenhagen, 
with  branches  in  ninety-six  provincial  cities  and 
towns. 

The  bank  is  chartered  to  carry  on  a  general 
banking  business.  The  capital  stock  consists  of 
shares  subscribed  by  cooperative  societies  in 
proportion  to  their  yearly  turnover.  This  cap- 
ital stock,  like  the  capital  stock  of  any  other 
bank,  serves  as  security  for  the  bank's  obli- 
gations. 

The  shares  in  the  bank  are  limited  to  co- 
operative societies,  cooperative  credit  and  sav- 
ings associations,  savings  banks,  banking  asso- 
ciations consisting  of  at  least  five  persons,  and 
other  societies  or  associations  of  which  the 
bank  may  approve,  as  well  as  municipalities 
and  municipal  institutions.  Private  individu- 
als are  not  accepted  as  stockholders,  nor  are 
profit-making  corporations  or  partnerships. 
The  bank  is  governed  by  a  General  Assembly 
consisting  of  delegates  elected  by  the  member 
society  from  geographical  districts.  There  is 
one  delegate  for  every  fifty  thousand  kroner 
subscribed  to  the  capital  stock  within  the  dis- 
trict.   In  addition,  there  is  a  committee  of  rep- 


58  DENMARK 

resentatives,  equivalent  to  a  board  of  directors, 
consisting  of  not  more  than  twenty-five  mem- 
bers selected  by  the  General  Assembly.  This 
Committee  has  general  oversight  of  the  bank. 
It  elects  the  manager,  as  well  as  a  small  execu- 
tive committee. 

The  growth  of  the  bank  has  been  remarkable. 
Its  turnover  in  1915  was  $250,000,000.  In  1916 
it  had  risen  to  $1,000,000,000.  In  1919  it  was 
$1,600,000,000.  By  the  latter  year  seventeen 
hundred  associations  had  subscribed  for  capital 
stock  which  totaled  eleven  million  kroner. 
The  profits  of  the  bank  in  1919  were  1,705,942 
kroner,  despite  some  losses  suffered  through 
its  branch  banks  as  well  as  the  depreciated  for- 
eign exchange,  which  made  it  necessary  for  the 
bank  to  write  down  the  value  of  its  assets. 
The  bank  has  just  completed  a  new  building  in 
Copenhagen,  said  to  be  one  of  the  most  impos- 
ing business  structures  in  the  country. 


CHAPTER  V 

SOME  GAINS  FROM  COOPERATION 

The  cooperative  movement  is  the  great  co- 
hesive element  in  the  democracy  of  Denmark. 
It  has  brought  the  farmers  together  in  all  kinds 
of  activities.  The  management  of  cooperative 
stores  and  industries,  the  local  and  state-wide 
meetings,  and  the  press  have  familiarized  the 
farmer  with  business  and  agricultural  proc- 
esses. It  has  given  him  a  sense  of  power.  Co- 
operation is  largely  responsible  for  the  class 
consciousness  of  the  farmer,  a  consciousness 
that  has  brought  them  together  and  kept  them 
together  for  political  action.  The  educational 
system  described  in  another  chapter  is  closely 
related  to  the  cooperative  movement. 

Cooperation  has  not  only  eliminated  excessive 
and  needless  overhead  expenses,  it  has  changed 
the  social  structure  of  the  country.  It  has  weak- 
ened capitalism.  In  many  branches  of  industry 
it  has  driven  it  out  altogether.  Cooperation, 
with  education  and  the  system  of  small  landed 
proprietors,   is   responsible   for   this   change. 

59 


60  DENMARK 

Economic  power  has  brought  with  it  political 
power.  It  has  strengthened  the  farmer  in  many- 
ways.  It  has  weakened  the  power  of  the  great 
landowners,  the  business  classes  and  the  ex- 
ploiting groups  generally. 

Economic  Gains  from  Cooperation.  Co- 
operation has  brought  with  it  economic  gains 
of  substantial  value.  Among  them  are  the  fol- 
lowing : 

1.  Tens  of  thousands  of  farms  average  from 
one-half  to  a  few  acres  in  extent.  By  means 
of  cooperation  it  is  possible  for  the  owner  of  a 
miniature  farm  to  sell  as  economically  as  the 
owner  of  a  large  estate. 

2.  The  farmers  buy  and  sell  as  a  group. 
Acting  as  a  unit  they  have  the  power  of  monop- 
oly, not  only  of  capital  but  of  brains  as  well. 
The  farmers  receive  all  the  profits  that  in  other 
countries  go  to  speculators  and  middlemen. 
There  are  no  speculative  agencies  between  the 
farmer  and  the  consumer. 

3.  The  farmer  is  relieved  of  the  cost  and 
trouble  of  marketing  his   individual  produce. 

4.  Cooperation  has  contributed  greatly  to  the 
improvement  of  farming.  Attendance  on  so- 
ciety meetings,   discussions,   the   experts   em- 


SOME  GAINS  FROM  COOPERATION     61 

ployed  by  the  cooperative  societies  have 
brought  about  better  breeds  of  cattle,  and  more 
intelligent  methods  of  work.  Cooperation  has 
made  the  farmer  proud  of  his  profession.  The 
farmer  aims  to  lead  in  his  community  and  the 
cooperative  societies  afford  an  opportunity 
through  which  his  talents  are  quickly  recog- 
nized. 

Moral  Gains.  Speaking  of  the  moral  gains 
from  cooperation,  a  keen  observer  of  Danish  in- 
stitutions says: 

"  Among  the  indirect,  but  equally  tangible  results 
of  cooperation,  I  should  be  inclined  to  put  the  develop- 
ment of  mind  and  character  among  those  by  whom  it 
is  practised.  The  peasant  or  little  farmer,  who  is  a 
member  of  one  or  more  of  these  societies,  who  helps 
to  build  up  their  success  and  enjoys  their  benefits, 
acquires  a  new  outlook.  The  jealousies  and  suspicions 
which  are  in  most  countries  so  common  among  those 
who  live  by  the  land  fall  from  him.  Feeling  that  he 
has  a  voice  in  the  direction  of  great  affairs  he  acquires 
an  added  value  and  a  healthy  importance  in  his  own 
eyes.  He  knows  also  that  in  his  degree  and  according 
to  his  output  he  is  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  largest 
producer  and  proportionately  is  doing  as  well.  There 
is  no  longer  any  fear  that  because  he  is  a  little  man  he 
will  be  browbeaten  or  forced  to  accept  a  worse  price 
for  what  he  has  to  sell  than  does  his  rich  and  powerful 


62  DENMARK 

neighbor.  The  skilled  minds  which  direct  his  business 
work  as  zealously  for  him  as  for  that  important 
neighbor. 

"Again,  being  relieved  from  all  the  worry  and  risk 
of  marketing  and  sure  that  whatever  he  buys  from  his 
society,  be  it  seeds  or  foodstuffs  or  implements,  is 
the  best  obtainable  at  the  lowest  rate  compatible  with 
good  quality,  he  is  free  to  devote  himself  altogether 
to  the  actual  business  of  life.  When  in  any  great 
doubt  or  difficulty  he  can  rely  on  the  expert  advice 
of  his '  control  society. p  All  the  science  of  the  country 
is  in  fact  at  the  disposal  of  the  humblest  worker.  The 
farmer,  who,  standing  alone,  can  be  broken  across  the 
knee  of  tyranny,  extortion  or  competition,  if  bound 
up  with  a  hundred  others  by  the  bond  of  common 
interest  he  is  able  to  mock  all  of  them.,,  * 

Political  Awakening.  Finally,  cooperation 
has  contributed  to  the  political  power  of  the 
farmer.  It  has  drawn  him  into  politics  and 
trained  him  to  united  political  action.  This  is 
one  of  its  greatest  services.  Along  with  home 
ownership  it  has  made  the  peasant  the  ruling 
class  in  the  nation.  For  the  farmer  found  that 
he  had  to  protect  his  cooperative  from  the  as- 
saults of  the  private  traders.  He  found  it 
necessary  to  have  a  voice  in  the  administration 
of  the  railroads,  in  the  levying  of  taxes,  in  the 

1  Denmark  and  the  Danes,  Harvey,  p.  146. 


SOME  GAINS  FROM  COOPERATION     63 

control  of  education.  And  as  he  gained  self- 
consciousness  in  the  cooperative  movement  he 
acquired  political  confidence  in  himself. 

Mr.  Booker  Washington  attributes  the  polit- 
ical power  of  the  peasant  to  the  cooperative 
activities  in  which  he  is  engaged.     He  says: 

"  Forty  years  ago  the  peasants  had  all  the  political 
rights  they  now  possess,  but  they  did  not  count  for 
much  in  political  matters.  There  were  then  two  kinds 
of  butter, ' gentlemen's  butter/  which  was  made  on  the 
estates  of  the  big  landowners,  and  peasants'  butter. 
Peasants'  butter  was  worth  only  one-half  as  much  as 
the  other  kind  in  the  market.  After  the  cooperative 
dairies  were  established,  however,  and  the  price  of 
peasants'  butter  began  to  rise  the  political  situation 
began  to  change.  Year  by  year  the  number  of  co- 
operative dairies  increased  and  year  by  year  the  num- 
ber of  peasant  farmers  in  Parliament  increased.  In 
other  words,  the  Danish  peasant  has  become  a  power 
in  Danish  politics  because  he  first  became  a  leader  in 
the  industrial  development  of  the  country."1 

Social  Gains.  All  over  Europe  the  coopera- 
tive movement  has  been  a  means  of  awakening 
self-confidence  in  the  peasant  and  the  worker. 
It  has  taught  them  the  processes  of  the  indus- 
trial and  trading  world.    Familiarity  with  these 

1  The  Man  Farthest  Down,  Booker  Washington,  p.  322. 


64  DENMARK 

processes  has  created  a  desire  to  participate  in 
the  economic  activities  of  the  state.  This  knowl- 
edge could  only  be  gained  by  the  working 
classes  by  slow  processes.  Limited  in  their  lei- 
sure and  in  their  savings,  untrained  in  the  in- 
tricacies of  business  and  banking,  they  looked 
upon  them  as  things  apart  from  their  class.  Co- 
operation has  broken  down  these  caste  inhibi- 
tions and  as  the  cooperator  sees  a  man  whom 
he  knows  mastering  the  details  of  accounting,  as 
he  sees  him  succeed  as  a  manager,  as  he  him- 
self participates  in  discussions  in  the  meetings 
and  gatherings,  he  comes  to  have  confidence  in 
himself  and  his  class. 

Denmark  has  realized  the  social  and  political 
values  of  cooperation  more  than  any  other  coun- 
try. Possibly  this  is  traceable  to  the  smallness 
of  the  country.  It  is  traceable  in  part  to  the 
fact  that  Denmark  is  to  so  great  an  extent  agri- 
cultural. At  any  rate  the  whole  population  has 
attained  a  dignity,  and  a  sense  of  the  impor- 
tance of  spiritual  and  material  values  that  is  not 
to  be  found  in  any  other  modern  state.  There 
is  a  warm  regard  for  cultural  things  in  Den- 
mark by  the  farmer  as  well  as  the  city  dweller. 
Education  is  provided  for  generously.  The 
state  of  Massachusetts  has  many  universities 


SOME  GAINS  FROM  COOPERATION     65 

and  colleges ;  it  has  provided  generously  for  its 
public  schools;  but  here  is  a  country  far  less 
wealthy  than  Massachusetts,  a  country  with 
scarcely  any  industry  and  little  accumulated 
wealth,  that  has  a  hundred  high  schools  and 
colleges  for  farmers  alone.  This  is  indicative  of 
the  willingness  of  the  farmer  to  spend  for  cul- 
tural things,  which  many  critics  of  democracy 
have  insisted  would  suffer  if  left  to  the  leveling 
influence  of  the  people. 

The  Dane  works  with  his  fellows.  He  is  good 
at  team  play.  He  trusts  himself  and  his  neigh- 
bors. He  is  willing  to  speculate  in  small  ven- 
tures that  promise  to  improve  his  condition.  He 
has  learned  enough  of  business  and  finance  to 
know  that  he  has  as  good  a  chance  of  success  as 
the  business  man.  He  knows  too  that  success 
or  failure  is  largely  a  matter  of  banking  and 
credit  and  knowing  this,  he  has  insisted  that 
these  agencies  should  be  organized  to  serve  him 
and  promote  his  well-being.  He  has  done  the 
same  as  to  the  railroads,  which  are  consciously 
operated  by  the  state  in  the  interest  of  the 
farmer.  Taxation  too  is  studied  and  its  inci- 
dence understood. 

These  are  some  of  the  by-products  of  the  co- 
operative movement,  with  its  meetings,  its  pub- 


66  DENMARK 

lications,  its  discussions,  and  the  self-confidence 
that  has  come  with  these  activities.  These 
along  with  farm  ownership  are  the  foundations 
of  the  economic  self-sufficiency  and  political 
confidence  of  the  peasant  and  the  working  class. 


CHAPTER  VI 

ECONOMIC  FOUNDATIONS— FARM  OWNER- 
SHIP 

Education  is  one  of  the  explanations  of  Den- 
mark. Cooperation  is  another.  But  back  of 
these  is  the  fact  that  the  Dane  owns  his  own 
farm.    He  works  for  himself. 

Farm  ownership  is  the  economic  foundation 
of  Denmark.  This  explains  the  desire  for  edu- 
cation, the  prevalence  of  cooperation  and  polit- 
ical democracy  as  well.  It  explains  the  general 
well-being  of  the  wage-earner  of  the  city. 

According  to  the  most  recent  official  statistics 
89.9  per  cent  of  the  farmers  own  their  farms. 
Only  10.1  per  cent  are  tenants.  As  late  as  1850, 
42  per  cent  were  tenants.  This  change  has 
been  brought  about  in  two  generations;  a 
change  achieved  by  the  efforts  of  the  peasants 
themselves. 

The  area  worked  by  owners  as  compared  to 
the  area  worked  by  tenants  is  even  more  strik- 
ing. Out  of  a  total  area  of  9,000,000  acres  in 
farms  in  1901,  7,803,000  acres  were  in  freehold 

67 


68 


DENMARK 


ownership  and  only  652,658  acres  were  in  ten- 
ancy. This  is  slightly  over  eight  per  cent.  The 
remainder  of  the  land  is  in  leasehold,  glebe  and 
public  servant  farms.1 

The  Small  Holding.  A  second  fact  of  prim- 
ary importance  is  the  large  number  of  very 
small  farms.  Many  of  the  holdings  are  mere 
' '  handkerchiefs ' '  of  land. 

The  total  number  of  farms  in  the  country  is 
250,000,  or  one  for  every  twelve  persons.  The 
average  size  of  the  farms  and  the  number  in 
each  class  is  as  follows : 


Size  of  Farms         Number  of  Total  number  Average  size 

farms          of  acres  in  of  farm  in 

the  class  each  class 

Less  than  \yz  acres  ...   68,000             23,000  8%00ofanacre 

From  ly2  to  12  acres  ..   65,000           412,000  6.3  acres 

From  12  to  37  acres  . .  46,000         1,060,000  23  acres 

From  37  to  147  acres  . .   61,000        4,468,914  73  acres 

From  147  to  600  acres.     8,000         1,900,000  238 acres 

More  than  600  acres  . .        822         1,052,000  1,280  acres 

The  very  large  farms  are  survivals  of  the  old 
feudal  estates.  These  estates  are  not  worked 
by  tenants,  as  in  other  countries,  but  by  hired 
labor,  which,  by  reason  of  the  ease  with  which 
peasants  secure  land,  is  difficult  to  obtain.  In 
consequence  the  landlords  imported  laborers 

i  Agricultural  Co-operation  in  Denmark,  Harald  Faber, 
D.  162. 


FARM  OWNERSHIP  69 

from  Central  Europe,  who  worked  on  the  estates 
during  the  summer  months  and  returned  home 
during  the  winter.  This  landed  class  is  fast 
disappearing  through  legislation,  described  in 
another  chapter,  by  which  tenants  and  la- 
borers are  aided  to  buy  small  farms  through 
assistance  from  the  public  treasury.1 

Size  of  Faems.  The  average  size  of  the 
248,000  farms  of  the  first  five  classes,  which 
range  from  iy2  to  600  acres  and  which  comprise 
nine-tenths  of  the  land,  is  but  thirty-two  acres. 
Of  these,  68,000  farms  average  less  than  half  an 
acre  each,  while  65,000  average  only  6  acres 
each.  The  small  patches  of  land  are  the  hold- 
ings of  the  husmaend  and  consist  of  a  house 
and  small  piece  of  land.  Still  a  man  on  from 
three  to  four  acres,  the  average  size  of  about 
half  the  farms  in  Denmark,  will  make  a  decent 
living  for  himself  and  his  family.  He  will  have 
one  or  two  cows  and  possibly  a  dozen  pigs.  He 
will  produce  his  own  vegetables  and  some  eggs 
and  poultry.  His  lot  is  not  particularly  envi- 
able, it  is  true,  yet  by  means  of  intensive  work, 
and  the  cooperative  undertakings  which  handle 
his  output,  he  is  able  to  live  far  more  inde- 

iSee  Chapter  XIV. 


70  DENMARK 

pendently  and  comfortably  than  the  average 
continental  peasant. 

The  107,000  farmers  with  farms  ranging  from 
12  to  147  acres,  and  who  own  about  six-tenths  of 
the  land,  live  very  much  better.  They  work 
their  own  farms  with  the  aid  of  some  hired 
labor;  they  are  well  educated,  and  devote  a  lot 
of  time  to  politics  and  the  cooperative  under- 
takings with  which  they  are  connected.  They 
have  been  the  ruling  class  in  politics  and  are 
called  gaardmaend.  They  control  the  politics  of 
their  district  and  have  been  ascendant  in  Par- 
liament for  thirty  years.  They  know  about  the 
most  technical  agriculture,  are  familiar  with 
prices  current,  are  rather  skilled  mechanics  and 
frequently  good  chemists.  They  are  saturated 
with  a  knowledge  of  agriculture,  are  not  con- 
sumed with  the  ambition  to  be  rich  or  to  acquire 
more  land.  Their  ambition  is  to  be  good 
farmers.  They  take  an  active  interest  in  the 
cooperative  societies,  in  the  various  savings 
and  credit  institutions,  and  are  familiar  with 
the  laws  which  bear  upon  their  business. 
They  enjoy  a  social  and  political  status 
superior  to  that  of  any  other  farmer  in  the 
world,  and  form  the  ruling  political  class  in  the 
nation. 


FARM  OWNERSHIP  71 

The  Economic  Basis  of  Agriculture. 
Farm  ownership  and  the  small  farm  are  the 
economic  bases  of  Danish  life.  To  these  eco- 
nomic conditions  other  things  are  traceable. 
The  kind  of  land  tenure  that  prevails  is  the  mold 
of  the  civilization  of  a  state.  This  is  true  of 
nearly  all  countries.  It  is  hardly  a  coincidence 
that  wherever  we  find  hereditary  landlordism, 
as  in  Great  Britain  and  Prussia,  there  we  have 
political  reaction.  There  is,  so  far  as  I  know,  no 
exception  to  this  rule.  It  was  this  that  ex- 
plained old  Russia.  It  was  land  monopoly  that 
lay  back  of  the  Irish  question  and  the  long- 
continued  poverty  of  the  Irish  people.  On  the 
other  hand,  wherever  we  find  the  people  owning 
their  own  homes  and  cultivating  their  own  land, 
there  we  find  an  entirely  different  spirit  and  a 
different  political  system.  With  ownership  we 
find  democracy,  responsible  government,  and 
with  them  the  hope,  ambition  and  freedom 
that  prevails  in  France,  Holland,  Switzerland 
and  the  Scandinavian  countries.  For  these 
are  the  countries  where  the  people,  rather  than 
the  old  feudal  aristocracy,  own  the  land. 

Political  Democracy.  Political  democracy 
in  Denmark  came  through  the  peasants,  who 


72  DENMARK 

gradually  overthrew  the  old  aristocracy  and  by 
continuous  efforts  obtained  control  of  Parlia- 
ment. The  struggle  continued  for  many  years 
but  finally  the  peasants  forced  a  change  in  the 
constitution;  they  abolished  plural  voting  and 
the  power  of  the  upper  house  and  took  posses- 
sion of  the  government. 

The  peasants  found  that  their  interests  were 
sacrificed  by  the  large  landowners  which  had 
long  been  ascendant.  They  discovered  that  they 
were  discriminated  against  in  taxation,  in  the 
tariff  and  excise  duties.  They  found  that  the 
marketing  agencies  were  in  the  hands  of  middle- 
men ;  that  they  were  excluded  from  the  benefits 
of  social  legislation.  So  the  farmers  organized 
a  party.  Ultimately  they  secured  control  of 
the  lower  house.  Then  they  appointed  farmers 
to  the  ministry.  And  for  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury they  have  controlled  the  lower  house  of 
Parliament. 

Education.  The  educational  system  would 
not  have  been  possible  had  the  farmers  been 
tenants.  Why  should  the  tenant  send  his  chil- 
dren to  school  if  an  increase  in  knowledge  means 
an  increase  in  rent?  For  the  landlord  gets  all 
that  he  can.    And  in  a  country  where  people 


FARM  OWNERSHIP  73 

crowd  on  to  the  land  as  they  do  in  Denmark, 
with  a  population  of  195  to  the  square  mile,  the 
landlord  knows  to  a  nicety  what  can  be  taken 
from  the  tenant  and  still  keep  him  on  the  land. 

It  is  the  home-owning  farmer  who  wants  edu- 
cation. He  wants  it  for  his  children.  He  sees 
its  economic  value. 

It  is  only  the  home-owning  farmer,  too,  that 
organizes  cooperative  undertakings.  He  wants 
to  keep  down  his  costs.  He  wants  to  market 
through  his  own  agencies.  The  tenant  is  not  a 
cooperative.  Why  should  he  be?  If  he  makes 
his  farm  yield  more  it  is  only  an  excuse  on  the 
part  of  the  landlord  for  an  increase  in  rent. 

Tenancy  in  America.  Tenancy  has  become 
a  serious  matter  in  America.  As  long  ago  as 
1910,  37  per  cent  of  our  farmers  were  tenants. 
And  the  condition  of  the  tenant  farmer  as  dis- 
closed by  the  Industrial  Relations  Commission, 
in  Texas,  Oklahoma  and  the  Southwest,  was  not 
very  different  from  the  conditions  which  pre- 
vail in  Europe.  For  farm  tenancy  is  much  the 
same  the  world  over.  Ambition,  hope,  initiative 
are  impossible  under  a  tenant  system.  This  is 
why  tenant  farming  destroys  agriculture.  The 
tenant  will  not  improve  the  farm.    For  the  im- 


74  DENMARK 

provements  he  makes  go  to  the  landlord.  The 
owner  will  not  make  improvements  because  it 
does  not  pay  him  to  do  so.  Moreover,  the  ten- 
ant seeks  to  get  as  much  out  of  the  soil  as  pos- 
sible and  then  move  on  to  another  farm.  The 
soil  is  exhausted,  crops  are  not  rotated,  soon 
deterioration  in  production  sets  in.  In  time 
the  land  is  impoverished  while  the  buildings  and 
improvements  go  to  decay.  Tenancy  is  rapidly 
becoming  the  prevailing  form  of  land  tenure  in 
America.  It  is  destructive  of  farming  and  of 
a  nation  as  well.    It  cannot  be  otherwise.1 

1  For  a  description  of  the  conditions  of  tenant  farmers  in 
America  and  their  low  intellectual  and  social  status,  see  Report 
of  the  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations,  Vol.  I. 


CHAPTER  VII 

A  PROPHET 

Why  has  this  little  country  stepped  out  so  far 
in  advance  of  other  countries  and  solved  so 
many  problems  that  have  scarcely  begun  to  con- 
cern the  statesmen  of  other  nations?  Is  it  trace- 
able to  the  stock  from  which  the  Dane  has 
sprung?  Is  it  due  to  climatic  or  favorable 
natural  advantages  or  was  it  inspired  by  some 
great  statesman  who  dedicated  his  abilities 
to  a  different  kind  of  ruler  ship  than  that 
which  has  animated  the  statesmen  of  other 
countries  ? 

None  of  these  causes  explains  the  awakening 
of  Denmark  or  her  economic  advance.  The  soil 
is  poor.  No  great  statesman  has  aided  in  shap- 
ing the  country's  destiny.  Denmark  was 
changed  by  the  people  themselves,  by  the  peas- 
ants or  farmers,  who  a  few  years  ago  were 
scarcely  more  intelligent  than  the  peasants  of 
Europe.  It  was  the  peasants  who  took  control 
of  politics,  who  have  taken  over  the  marketing, 
the  buying  and  the  credit  agencies  of  the  coun- 

75 


76  DENMARK 

try  and  by  their  own  efforts  developed  a  culture 
of  their  own.  It  is  they  who  have  almost  abol- 
ished farm  tenancy  and  substituted  farm  owner- 
ship as  the  basis  of  successful  farming.  As  a 
result  they  have  made  agriculture  a  fine  art  and 
converted  the  raising  of  horses,  cattle,  hogs  and 
poultry  into  a  science.  This  has  been  achieved 
in  forty  years'  time.  It  is  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable revolutions  in  history. 

A  Great  Educator.  Many  Danes,  possibly 
most  of  them,  will  tell  you  that  the  revival  of 
the  country,  which  began  about  1880,  was  trace- 
able to  the  teachings  of  a  remarkable  man, 
Nikolai  Frederik  Severin  Grundtvig,  later 
Bishop  Grundtvig.  Certainly  no  educator  and 
few  statesmen  have  as  completely  changed  the 
course  of  their  country's  destiny  as  did  this 
relatively  poor,  long  neglected  and  bitterly  re- 
viled educator,  whose  teachings  have  lifted  the 
peasantry  of  Denmark  to  a  level  of  culture  that 
is  unique  in  the  world.  Education  in  turn  has 
reacted  on  economic  and  social  conditions,  and 
especially  on  agriculture.  It  has  inspired  the 
peasant  to  political  action.  It  has  awakened 
100,000  peasants,  who  in  a  generation's  time 
have  attended  the  People's  High  Schools  which 


A  PROPHET  77 

are  the  central  feature  in  the  educational  system 
of  the  state. 


Gkundtvig.  Bishop  Grundtvig  (1783-1872) 
came  from  an  old  Danish  family.  He  received  a 
conventional  education  and  was  trained  for  the 
ministry.  He  revolted  against  the  training  he 
received  at  the  schools  as  he  did  against  the 
church.  Because  of  his  independence  he  was 
ostracized  by  the  educated  classes,  as  well  as 
by  the  state,  which  resented  his  criticisms  of  the 
prevailing  culture  of  his  time.  Late  in  life, 
however,  he  was  ordained  a  bishop  in  the  State 
Church  by  the  king,  although  he  was  never  given 
a  diocese. 

Grundtvig  spent  some  time  in  England,  where 
he  found  the  country  in  the  throes  of  the  Reform 
Bill  and  the  political  controversies  of  the  early 
part  of  the  last  century.  It  was  here  that  his 
ideas  of  education  took  form,  ideas  of  an  educa- 
tional system  for  mature  men  and  women  rather 
than  for  boys  and  girls.  During  these  years  he 
conceived  of  schools  that  would  give  dignity  to 
the  life  of  the  farmer;  that  would  awaken  a 
pride  in  his  calling  no  matter  how  humble  it 
might  be.  Grundtvig's  ambition  was  to  see  the 
working  man,  especially  the  peasant,  lifted  from 


78  DENMARK 

the  dull,  soulless  occupation  to  which  he  was 
condemned.  This  was  the  primary  objective  of 
his  educational  reforms.  He  protested  against 
the  classical  schools  designed  for  the  upper 
classes.  He  also  protested  against  the  neglect 
of  the  Danish  language,  for  the  educated  classes 
were  under  French  and  German  influence. 
"Three-quarters  of  them,"  he  said  "can  hardly 
write  Danish,  know  nothing  of  history  .  .  . 
have  no  conception  of  civilization  except  as 
something  dry  and  repulsive  as  necessary  to  be 
'got  up'  for  the  second  examination. ' '  He  saw 
no  hope  for  the  Danish  people  so  long  as  they 
were  dependent  upon  the  cultural  ideas  of  other 
nations,  and  he  saw  little  hope  of  revolt  from 
the  cultivated  classes.  Denmark,  which  was 
then  suffering  from  depression  due  to  competi- 
tion from  outside  countries  and  the  political  dis- 
asters which  had  befallen  her,  would  continue 
to  decay,  he  felt,  unless  these  outside  influences 
were  arrested,  and  a  purely  Danish  culture  was 
substituted  in  their  stead.  To  awaken  the 
people  he  preached  national  education.  "What 
the  peasants  need,"  he  said,  "is  not 
technical  training  but  mental."  Two  of  his 
guiding  principles  were :  one,  that  all  traditional 
methods  be  discarded ;  and  two,  that  the  national 


A  PROPHET  79 

spirit  be  aroused.  The  highest  in  a  human 
being  is  not  brought  out  by  examinations; 
it  must  be  aroused  by  something  else.  "Our 
primary  aim  is  to  inform,  not  to  impart  in- 
formation,'?  he  said. 

Breaking  with  Educational  Traditions. 
Grundtvig's  educational  ideas  were  novel. 
He  hated  examinations  and  textbooks.  And 
they  play  a  small  part  in  the  People's  High 
Schools  which  resulted  from  his  teachings.  He 
condemned  the  medieval  classicism  that  passed 
for  culture.  He  believed  that  education  came 
from  the  personality  of  the  teacher,  from  the 
man  who  is  trained  to  inspire  and  awaken.  He 
urged  that  the  spoken  rather  than  the  written 
word  be  employed.  The  teacher  must  live  and 
work  with  his  pupils.  The  application  of  these 
ideas  was  fundamental  to  the  success  of  the 
schools  which  his  teachings  inspired.  The 
teacher  was  to  be  the  center  of  the  school  and 
the  community  life,  and  through  constant  dis- 
cussion and  intimate  contact  with  the  pupils  he 
would  inspire  them  to  a  belief  in  the  things 
which  were  fundamental  to  real  culture. 

The  People's  High  Schools  which  were  born 
at  his  agitation  are  organized  along  these  lines. 


80  DENMARK 

There  are  no  examinations.  Nor  are  there 
separate  class  divisions.  Knowledge  is  sought 
for  its  own  sake  irrespective  of  its  utilitarian 
benefits.  Commenting  on  these  schools,  Marais, 
the  biographer  of  Grundtvig,  says :  "No  doubt 
every  student  at  the  end  of  his  four  or  five 
months'  course  knows  many  things  he  did  not 
know  before,  but  whether  he  knows  many  or  a 
few  things  is  a  matter  of  small  concern,  so 
long  as  a  new  hope,  a  new  life,  a  new  spring 
of  energy  within  him  is  called  into  being. ' ' 

Schools  for  People.  Grundtvig  was  primar- 
ily concerned  with  the  peasant,  with  the  common 
people.  He  deprecated  the  idea  of  producing 
mere  students,  professors,  public  officials. 
"Our  national  culture/ '  he  said,  "must  rest 
upon  the  enlightenment  of  all  classes.  .  .  . 
If  education  is  organized  as  if  every  one  were 
to  be  an  official  or  a  gentleman  of  leisure,  the 
entire  people  will  die  of  hunger.  It  is  not  a 
question  of  what  will  be  serviceable  for  the 
officials  or  leisure  class,  but  for  those  who  will 
be  neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  Our  aim  must 
be  to  provide  a  liberal  education  which  will 
make  the  whole  people  fit  for  their  work  and 
happy  in  their  situation.     .     .     .     The  aim  of 


A  PROPHET  81 

the  schools  should  be  to  fill  the  gap  between  the 
educated  and  the  uneducated,  to  bridge  the 
boundless  abyss  which  the  hierarchy,  the  aris- 
tocracy and  the  Latin  schools  have  built  between 
almost  the  entire  people  on  the  one  side  and  the 
handful  of  the  so-called  educated  and  enlight- 
ened upon  the  other.' '  * 

In  this  we  receive  a  suggestion  of  the  under- 
lying motive  of  these  schools.  They  aim  to 
educate  the  people.  They  are  a  direct  challenge 
to  the  idea  that  higher  education  should  be 
something  for  the  privileged  classes  who  are  to 
live  as  a  detached  class.  Grundtvig 's  aim  was 
the  education  of  all  the  people,  especially  the 
working  and  producing  classes.  Education  was 
not  to  be  a  thing  for  the  few.  It  was  to  be  the 
possession  of  the  entire  nation.  And  it  was 
upon  this  democratic  foundation  that  the  Dan- 
ish educational  system  has  since  been  erected. 

Grundtvig  was  an  idealist  and  his  language 
was  sometimes  extravagant  because  his  ideals 
were  high.  He  had  a  lofty  conception  of  the 
mission  of  the  teacher.  His  dream  was  "to 
make  the  People's  High  Schools  a  center  of 
northern  learning — a  northern  university  in  the 


1  "  Bishop  Grundtvig  and  the  People's  High  Schools,"  E.  G. 
Cooley,  Educational  Review,  December,  1914. 


82  DENMARK 

highest  sense  of  the  term.  There  was  to  be  no 
cramped  system  of  classical  learning,  but  a 
bridge  between  the  people  and  their  history  and 
poetry." 

The  Fikst  People's  High  School.  Although 
Grundtvig  preached  these  ideas,  and  formulated 
the  plan  by  which  the  schools  were  to  be  estab- 
lished, he  never  had  a  school  of  his  own.  It  was 
many  years  before  the  Danes  were  ready  to 
listen  to  him  at  all,  and  when  the  first  experi- 
mental school  was  started  at  Rodding  in  1844  it 
was  the  subject  of  the  greatest  controversy,  and 
the  system  was  not  thoroughly  apprehended  and 
extended  until  twenty  years  later. 

It  was  the  energy  and  personality  of  Kristen 
Kold  that  brought  the  People's  High  School  to 
its  first  practical  realization.  Kold  was  the  son 
of  a  poor  shoemaker.  His  educational  experi- 
ence aroused  in  him  a  distrust  of  anything  me- 
chanical. He  revolted  against  the  traditional 
methods  employed.  Most  of  all  he  resented  the 
examinations,  tests  and  catechism.  His  protests 
closed  professional  opportunities  to  him  and  he 
became  a  bookbinder.  By  chance  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  writings  of  Grundtvig  in 
which  he  found  a  justification  of  his  own  beliefs. 


A  PROPHET  83 

This  inspired  him  to  open  a  modest  school  in 
which  instruction  should  be  through  the  teacher 
rather  than  through  the  printed  page.  His 
school  grew  rapidly  until  it  had  a  hundred 
people.  Young  women  asked  to  be  admitted. 
So  he  opened  a  school  for  them  in  the  summer, 
which  was  the  season  when  men  could  not  be 
spared  from  the  farm.  Kold  has  been  described 
as  a  sort  of  rustic  blend  of  Socrates  and  Pesta- 
lozzi.  He  had  a  ready  store  of  idiomatic  knowl- 
edge of  the  Danish  language ;  had  thought  much 
on  life  and  its  problems;  he  had  a  keen  in- 
sight into  character;  possessed  an  unlimited 
store  of  illustrations  and  experiences ;  and  was 
consumed  by  a  passion  for  communicating  to 
others  what  had  brought  light  and  help  to  him- 
self. 

The  Natuee  of  the  People  's  School.  The 
schools  established  by  Kold  had  to  make  their 
way  by  attracting  students.  If  they  failed  in 
this  they  failed  altogether.  But  the  inspira- 
tional quality  of  his  teaching,  a  ready  and  force- 
ful contact  with  students,  a  winning  person- 
ality and  some  business  ability,  united  in  keep- 
ing the  schools  alive.  This  is  one  of  the  qual- 
ities of  the  People's  High  Schools  all  over  Den- 


84  DENMARK 

mark.  They  are  not  maintained  by  the  state. 
They  have  to  attract  students  to  live.  And  they 
are  all  self-governing  and  in  large  measure  self- 
supporting. 

These  schools,  too,  are  not  for  children ;  they 
are  for  men  and  women  of  from  sixteen  to  forty 
years  of  age.  As  these  mature  persons  are  able 
to  choose  for  themselves,  and  as  they  want  to 
secure  the  best  possible  returns  for  their  time 
and  money,  the  schools  where  the  teaching  is  the 
best  attract  the  largest  attendance.  And  be- 
cause the  schools  are  private  rather  than  public 
and  center  about  the  personality  of  the  teachers, 
there  is  absolute  freedom  of  instruction.  The 
teacher  can  say  what  he  pleases.  He  cannot  be 
interfered  with  by  the  state  or  even  by  the 
;  trustees.  The  schools  of  Denmark  are  teachers' 
schools.  The  material  endowment,  though  often 
generous,  is  secondary.  The  material  equip- 
ment is  accessory  to  the  teachers,  who  are  in 
effect  the  schools.  There  are  no  fixed  standards 
of  scholarship,  no  degrees,  no  tests  or  examina- 
tions of  any  kind. 

Freedom  in  Education.  Accustomed  as  we 
are  to  political  supervision  of  education  and  in- 
flexible standards  of  what  shall  be  taught  and 


A  PROPHET  85 

what  the  pupil  shall  know  at  the  completion  of 
each  grade,  the  freedom  of  these  schools  seems 
quite  incomprehensible.  For  the  schools  differ 
greatly  in  details,  although  they  conform  to  the 
type  impressed  upon  them  by  their  founder. 
Speaking  of  the  results  of  this  freedom  from 
standards,  a  special  report  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation of  Great  Britain  on  Schools,  Public  and 
Private,  in  the  North  of  Europe,  says :  "But  we 
shall  find  on  the  one  hand  that  the  very  best 
results  flow  from  this  large  liberty,  and  on  the 
other,  that  the  schools  are  able  to  give  abundant 
evidence  that  the  state  gets  good  value  for  the 
large  sums  of  money  expended  on  them."  .  .  . 
For  the  state  "to  interfere  in  the  arrangements 
of  the  school,  to  impose  or  modify  a  time-table, 
to  curtail  one  subject  or  to  extend  another,  even 
to  offer  suggestions  on  any  large  scale,  would 
be  as  much  outside  his  duty  (the  inspector's) 
as  it  would  be  for  an  English  government 
official,  when  a  large  subsidy  has  been  given  to 
the  Cunard  Company  for  carrying  the  mails,  to 
object  to  the  composition  of  the  Board  of  Direc- 
tors, to  find  fault  with  the  construction  of  their 
ships  and  to  insist  on  other  ways  of  carrying  on 
their  business.  This  absolute  freedom,  this 
undivided    responsibility,    the    Folkdjohskole 


86  DENMARK 

teacher  regards  as  essential  to  the  full  success 
of  his  work. ' ' 1 


Examinations  and  Tests.  Commenting  on 
the  distrust  of  examinations,  the  same  report 
says:  "The  feeling  against  an  examination 
for  such  schools  as  these  is  intensely  strong. 
Eather  than  submit  to  it  the  schools  would  sur- 
render their  grants.  In  at  least  one  instance 
where  some  patron  or  generous  supporter  of  a 
school  has  insisted  on  examinations  of  the  pu- 
pils the  consequence  has  been  the  entire  dis- 
continuance of  the  school. 

1  ■  Some  of  the  teachers  do  not  hesitate  to  de- 
scribe examinations  of  their  pupils  as  actually 
degrading.  And  indeed  if  we  remember  the  aim 
of  the  most  characteristic  part  of  their  work,  it 
will  be  seen  that  examination  of  pupils  would  be 
as  incongruous  as  if  some  one  were  to  insist  that 
Englishmen  on  leaving  St.  Paul's  or  the  Metro- 
politan Tabernacle  should  be  required  to  show 
in  writing  that  they  understood  or  remembered 
what  they  had  heard  and  were  in  agreement 
with  the  doctrinal  standards  upheld  in  the  ca- 
thedral or  tabernacle.   For  the  aim,  the  primary 

1  Special  Report  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  Great  Britain 
on  Schools,  Public  and  Private,  in  the  North  of  Europe, 


A  PROPHET  87 

aim  of  the  schools  is  to  inform  (in  the  proper 
sense  of  the  word)  rather  than  to  impart  in- 
formation. ' ' 1 

The  schools  are  intensely  patriotic.  They  are 
also  very  religious.  This  has  made  them  a 
powerful  agency  in  the  awakening  of  the  coun- 
try and  in  turning  the  thoughts  of  the  people 
from  external  to  internal  development.  The 
students  range  from  18  to  30  years  of  age. 
They  live  and  study  together  under  a  common 
roof  with  the  teacher,  who  thus  inspires  a  sense 
of  identity  with  the  community  and  the  nation 
as  well. 

These  people's  schools,  for  they  are  literally 
people's  schools,  are  woven  into  the  texture  of 
the  life  of  Denmark.  Education  is  not  a  thing 
for  children  alone,  it  is  not  a  privileged  posses- 
sion of  the  few,  it  is  part  of  the  daily  life  of 
the  population.  The  men  and  women  think  of 
the  school  as  they  do  of  their  church,  their  co- 
operative store,  their  political  party.  They  sup- 
port them,  direct  them,  and  feel  a  proprietary 
sense  about  them  that  is  not  found  even  in  the 
public  school.  Moreover,  they  are  part  of  the 
everyday  life  of  the  farmer.  He  goes  to  them 
at  a  mature  age.    He  goes  for  something  very 


88  DENMARK 

definite  and  he  returns  from  time  to  time  for 
guidance,  to  attend  some  agricultural  meeting, 
to  a  conference  on  religion,  on  politics,  on  co- 
operation. Education  in  Denmark  is  not  de- 
tached— it  is  as  much  a  part  of  the  farmer's  life 
as  his  everyday  work  on  the  farm. 

The  People's  High  Schools  are  organized 
privately  or  by  self -perpetuating  corporations. 
The  schools  sometimes  begin  in  rented  quarters 
and  move  into  permanent  homes  only  after  they 
become  well-established.  As  a  result  of  the 
competition  and  the  small  subsidy  of  the  state, 
only  the  worthy  ones  survive,  and  nearly  half 
the  schools  organized  go  to  pieces.  Those  which 
live,  however,  are  very  much  alive.  They  are 
the  center  of  the  life  of  their  respective  com- 
munities. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  PEOPLE'S  HIGH  SCHOOLS 

The  People's  High  Schools,  which  are  now  to 
be  found  in  every  part  of  the  country,  are  Den- 
mark's contribution  to  education.  They  are 
probably  the  most  democratic  educational  in- 
stitutions in  the  world.  They  are  peasant 
schools.  They  are  organized,  managed  and  sup- 
ported by  the  peasants.  These  schools  are  not 
detached  from  the  everyday  life  of  the  people. 
They  are  identified  with  the  peasant,  with  his 
work,  his  politics,  and  his  culture,  in  every  con- 
ceivable way.  The  People's  High  Schools  are 
people 's  schools  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 

The  methods  of  teaching  and  of  study  are 
unique.  They  would  shock  the  average  board 
of  education,  as  they  would  the  average  par- 
ent. Textbooks  are  but  little  used.  Teaching 
is  by  the  spoken  rather  than  the  written  word. 
This  is  a  cardinal  principle.  The  school  day 
is  long,  and  the  pupils  work  willingly  and  hard. 
Even  the  courses  of  study  are  not  standardized. 
They  are  determined  very  largely  by  the  prin- 
cipal, who  exercises  great  influence  over  the 


90  DENMARK 

school.  The  average  principal  would  not  sub- 
mit to  any  interference  by  public  authorities. 
He  might  resent  any  interference  by  the  board 
of  trustees.  The  teachers  have  a  larger  control 
over  education  in  Denmark  than  they  have 
elsewhere.  Despite  considerable  variation  in 
the  curricula,  the  schools  have  certain  common 
characteristics.  They  all  stimulate  a  love  of 
Denmark  and  her  institutions.  The  culture  of 
the  country  is  emphasized.  History  occupies  a 
prominent  place.  And  the  study  of  history  is 
generous  enough  to  include  the  mythology  of  the 
Norsemen  as  well  as  the  problems  of  social 
science  of  the  present  day.  Singing  and  litera- 
ture hold  a  prominent  place,  while  gymnastics 
of  every  kind  are  indulged  in  both  indoors  and 
out.  The  monuments  which  attract  the  most  in- 
terest are  those  of  great  teachers,  of  writers,  of 
men  of  cultural  prominence.  War  and  inter- 
national affairs  are  practically  neglected. 

Educational  Discipline.  From  our  point  of 
view  the  schools  are  lacking  in  discipline. 
Foreign  observers  remark  on  the  natural  rela- 
tions between  teacher  and  pupil  and  the  absence 
of  rules.  The  teachers  take  at  least  one  meal  a 
day  with  the  students,  all  of  whom  live  in  or 


THE  PEOPLE'S  HIGH  SCHOOLS        91 

about  the  building.  This  living  in  common  is 
considered  an  important  feature  of  the  high 
school  idea  and  may  have  something  to  do  with 
the  ability  of  the  Danes  to  work  together  po- 
litically and  in  their  many  cooperative  societies. 

"  The  People's  High  Schools,  says  a  British  observer 
have  been  described  as  'hotbeds'  of  the  cooperative 
movement ;  most  of  the  chairmen  of  committees  of  co- 
operative societies,  and  of  the  dairy  managers  have 
passed  through  one  or  more  of  them.  The  High  School 
man,  with  his  love  of  country  and  his  country's  his- 
tory, says  Mr.  Thornton,  will  take  an  intelligent  in- 
terest in  public  affairs;  30  per  cent  of  the  members 
of  the  Rigsdag  in  1901  had  been  High  School 
pupils."1 

Schools  foe  Adults.  The  usual  period  of  at- 
tendance at  the  high  schools  is  one  term  of  five 
months'  duration.  The  schools  are  open  from 
November  to  May  for  males  and  during  the 
summer  months  for  women  and  girls.  The 
pupils  live  in  or  near  the  school.  Board  and 
tuition  are  very  low  and  deserving  students  re- 
ceive assistance  from  the  government  upon  the 
recommendation  of  local  committees.  The  num- 
ber of  students  in  the  schools  ranges  from  ten 
to  four  hundred.  Slightly  over  one-half  of 
these,  53  per  cent,  are  males,  and  47  per  cent 

1  Co-operation  in  Danish  Agriculture,  Faber,  p.  xviii. 


92  DENMARK 

are  females.  About  three-fourths  of  the  stu- 
dents are  substantial  middle-class  farmers 
and  small  holders.  The  usual  age  of  admission 
is  eighteen  and  over  and  80  per  cent  of  the 
students  are  from  19  to  25  years  of  age.  Seven 
per  cent  are  below  18,  and  thirteen  per  cent  are 
above  25.  Only  a  small  number  have  attended 
Latin  schools.  They  are  the  people's  schools 
in  every  sense  of  the  word. 

Just  as  there  are  no  examinations  within  the 
schools,  so  the  teachers  are  not  required  to  pass 
any  official  tests.  They  are  appointed  by  the 
school  principal  and  are  selected  for  their  abil- 
ity to  impart  information.  They  must  have 
personal  magnetism  and  executive  ability. 

From  our  point  of  view  the  school  day  is  very 
long.  It  extends  well  into  the  evening.  And  the 
organization  and  rotation  of  classes  is  quite 
similar  to  that  in  vogue  in  the  Gary  high  schools, 
at  Gary,  Indiana. 

The  Coubse  of  Study.  The  high  schools  are 
alike  in  the  emphasis  they  place  on  gardening 
and  farming.  They  assist  the  agricultural 
schools,  connected  with  them  in  some  cases,  but 
give  no  vocational  instruction  per  se.  Yet,  if 
you  ask  a  Dane  which  is  the  most  important 


THE  PEOPLE'S  HIGH  SCHOOLS        93 

vocational  school  in  Denmark,  he  will  say,  "the 
people's  high  school."  The  reason  for  the  an- 
swer is  that  the  schools  have  awakened  a  new 
spirit  in  the  peasant,  which  he  seeks  to  sustain 
through  the  founding  of  high  school  associa- 
tions, high  school  homes,  lecture  associations, 
auditorium  halls  and  gymnasiums  in  his  home 
parish. 

To  what  extent  the  people's  high  schools 
should  teach  "practical  subjects"  is  a  debated 
question.  Of  the  79  state  aided  schools,  48  ad- 
here to  the  culture  idea  pure  and  simple,  and  the 
list  includes  the  most  famous  ones.  But  31 
schools,  including  some  of  the  largest,  offer 
specific  courses  in  agriculture,  horticulture,  car- 
pentry, masonry,  etc.,  and  seem  in  no  danger  of 
losing  their  original  ideals  and  inspiration.  The 
schools  are  not  co- educational,  except  in  two  or 
three  cases.1 

1  The  course  of  study  at  the  Ryslinge  folk  high  school  is 
as  follows: 

(School  for  young  men,  November-April,  1913.) 

Subjects                Hours  Subjects                Hours 

Danish  and  composition  ...  6  Constitutional      law      and 

Danish  history    6         jurisprudence   1 

Farm  accounting 2  Agricultural  economics   ...   1 

General  history  6     Gymnastics 6 

Geography    S  Writing  a 

Natural  science  4  Bookkeeping  a 

Danish  and  other  literature  2  Lecture  and  song  each  evening 

Drawing  and  surveying    . .  2  English,  special  instruction 
a  Twenty-four  hours  in  all. 


94  DENMARK 

Kinds  of  Schools  and  Eelation  to  the 
State.  While  the  high  schools  are  free  from 
supervision  by  the  state  and  no  attempt  is  made 
to  standardize  them,  they  receive  financial  sup- 
port from  the  public  treasury.  The  total  state 
appropriation  for  the  year  1913-1914  was  about 
520,000  kroner. 

In  the  80  high  schools  (1913),  19  agricultural 
schools  and  schools  of  household  economics, 
there  were  altogether  about  10,000  students, 
nearly  all  from  the  country  districts.  Only  6 
per  cent  of  the  attendance  comes  from  towns 
and  cities.  It  is  estimated  that  more  than  30 
per  cent  of  the  young  men  in  the  rural  districts 
have  been  students  in  these  schools  and  many  of 
them  have  passed  on  to  the  winter  agricultural 
colleges  for  advanced  work. 

The  schools  may  be  classified  into  four  gen- 
eral types:  (1)  people's  high  schools,  (2)  the 
agricultural  schools  or  colleges  in  which  more 
advanced  work  is  done  and  which  generally  re- 
quire previous  attendance  at  the  high  school. 
These  agricultural  schools  are  designed  primar- 
ily for  the  farmers,  that  is,  for  those  having 
rather  substantial  farms  of  from  15  to  50  acres. 
(3)  Schools  for  the  small  farmers  or  agricul- 
tural laborers,  who  own  a  small  patch  of  land 


THE  PEOPLE'S  HIGH  SCHOOLS        95 

and  eke  out  their  subsistence  by  working  on  the 
neighboring  estates;  and  (4)  the  schools  of  do- 
mestic science  for  the  girls  and  women.  All 
told,  there  are  over  one  hundred  of  the  various 
types  of  schools. 

The  high  school  is  closely  identified  with  the 
community  in  which  it  is  located.  And  just  as 
a  town  has  an  elected  mayor  to  administer  its 
political  affairs,  so  it  has  an  intellectual  leader 
in  the  school  principal.  For  the  principal  is  an 
important  personage.  He  exerts  great  influ- 
ence. He  receives  a  good  salary.  He  is  pro- 
vided with  a  comfortable  house  in  connection 
with  the  school  and  is  looked  up  to  for  guidance 
not  only  in  practical  matters  but  in  political  and 
social  questions  as  well. 

There  is  great  variety  in  the  intellectual  life 
of  the  Danish  peasant.  Political  ideas  of  an  ad- 
vanced sort,  such  as  socialism,  single  tax,  pro- 
portional representation,  the  position  of  women, 
are  subjects  of  discussion  and  debate.  And  the 
school  principal  is  perfectly  free  to  participate 
in  such  movements.  In  many  instances  he  is 
looked  upon  and  referred  to  throughout  the 
kingdom  as  the  center  of  some  agitation  or 
other. 

These  schools  have  made  a  profound  impres- 


96  DENMARK 

sion  on  the  morals  and  habits  of  the  people. 
Wherever  the  high  school  has  acquired  an  in- 
fluence one  finds  little  drinking,  gambling  or 
other  forms  of  immorality.  Not  that  the  schools 
are  puritanical,  for  dances,  sports  and  play  of 
all  kinds  are  emphasized  as  part  of  the  curricu- 
lum. 

The  people's  high  schools  are  also  community 
halls.  They  are  the  centers  of  politics,  of  propa- 
ganda, of  the  cooperative  movement.  It  is  the 
ambition  of  every  farmer  to  attend  one  of  these 
schools  at  some  time  or  other.  For  this  he 
saves.  To  this  he  looks  forward.  On  the  short 
contact  of  a  few  months  with  cultural  things  he 
looks  back  in  after  years. 

These  schools  have  contributed  much  of  the 
democracy  of  Denmark.  They  have  reduced 
class  distinctions.  They  have  trained  the 
farmer  to  self-confidence.  They  have  aided  in 
making  him  the  power  that  he  is  in  the  state. 
They  have  contributed  to  many  economic  re- 
forms and  have  been  one  of  the  most  important, 
possibly  the  most  important,  agency  in  pro- 
moting the  efficiency  of  the  country. 

As  a  result  of  these  educational  agencies  and 
the  keen  interest  which  the  farmers  take  in 
them,  illiteracy  is  non-existent  in  Denmark.    It 


THE  PEOPLE'S  HIGH  SCHOOLS         97 

is  but  .002  per  cent.  The  people  appreciate  the 
value  of  education,  and  are  willing  to  support 
any  new  demands  for  its  extension.  Education 
is  a  sort  of  investment  from  which  the  peasant 
receives  dividends,  not  only  in  business  but  in 
politics,  cooperation  and  the  joy  of  life.  Edu- 
cation and  especially  the  people's  high  schools 
are  very  largely  responsible  for  the  economical 
well-being  of  Denmark  and  for  the  widespread 
culture  which  prevails. 

Culture  of  Denmark.  This  is  the  estimate 
of  a  special  investigator  of  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Education,  as  it  is  of  the  United 
States  Commissioner  of  Education,  Mr.  P.  P. 
Claxton,  who  says  in  the  preface  to  a  govern- 
ment report  on  the  Folks  High  Schools:  "In 
the  thirty  years  from  1881  to  1912  the  value  of 
the  exports  of  standard  agricultural  products — 
bacon,  eggs  and  butter — increased  from  $12,- 
000,000  to  $125,000,000.  Waste  and  worn-out 
lands  have  been  reclaimed  and  renewed.  Co- 
operation in  production  and  marketing  has  be- 
come more  common  than  in  any  country.  Land- 
lordism and  farm  tenancy  have  almost  disap- 
peared. Rural  social  life  has  become  intelligent, 
organic  and  attractive.   A  high  type  of  idealism 


98  DENMARK 

has  been  fostered  among  the  masses  of  the 
people.  A  real  democracy  has  been  established. 
This  is  the  outgrowth  of  an  educational  system, 
universal,  practical  and  democratic."1 

1  Foght,  "  The  Folks  High  Schools,"  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion, Bulletin  No.  22,  1914. 


CHAPTER  IX 

MAKING  FARMING  ALLURING 

In  addition  to  the  People's  High  Schools  there 
are  agricultural  high  schools  and  schools  of 
household  economics  for  young  women.  These 
are  advanced  high  schools  or  colleges,  and  most 
of  them  require  attendance  at  the  People's  High 
schools  as  a  condition  of  admission.  There  are 
23  of  these  agricultural  high  schools  accredited 
by  the  government.  This  in  a  state  about  twice 
the  size  of  Massachusetts  and  with  a  total 
population  of  but  3,000,000.  The  student  seek- 
ing admission  must  have  had  some  practical 
training  in  farming  before  he  may  enter,  and 
this  is  usually  received  in  the  years  between 
leaving  the  elementary  schools  and  entering  the 
folks  high  school. 

The  agricultural  high  school  maintains  close 
relations  with  the  People's  High  School,  teach- 
ers often  being  exchanged  between  the  two.  The 
methods  of  instruction  are  similar.  The  agri- 
cultural school  is  designed  to  serve  the  agricul- 
tural needs  of  the  neighborhood  in  which  it  is 

99 


100  DENMARK 

located,  and  usually  comes  into  existence  in  re- 
sponse to  some  definite  need. 

The  agricultural  schools  are  organized  as 
nearly  as  possible  like  a  farm.  They  are  ex- 
periment stations  in  agriculture,  and  familiarize 
the  students  with  scientific  methods,  the  use  of 
machinery  and  chemistry,  and  the  advances  in 
the  art.  Many  of  the  schools  are  actually  farm 
communities,  weaving  cultural  and  mechanical 
studies  into  one  another  in  a  thoroughly  prac- 
tical way. 

A  foreigner  visiting  the  high  school  located 
at  Askov  described  his  experiences  as  follows: 

"Both  teachers  and  pupils  are  in  closest  touch  with 
hard  reality.  They  are  as  far  as  possible  from  be- 
coming mere  dreamy  students.  For  all  around,  in 
rich  variety,  are  spread  works  of  practical  utility, 
carried  on  by  the  teachers  or  by  former  students, 
which  are  quite  independent  of  the  school  courses,  but 
yet  lie  open  for  observation  and  inquiry  from  day  to 
day.  First  comes  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Sta- 
tion of  forty  acres,  the  largest  in  Denmark,  managed 
by  a  staff  of  six  experts  and  visited  every  year  by 
2,000  farmers  and  others.  Here  at  any  given  time 
hundreds  of  experiments  are  going  on  with  all  sorts 
of  seeds  and  plants  on  varying  soils  (clay,  sand, 
moss.) 

1  *  Close  to  the  school  is  the  research  windmill,  built 


MAKING  FARMING  ALLURING        101 

by  the  State,  in  which  Professor  Poul  La  Cour  has 
learnt  how  to  harness  the  wind  and  make  it  generate 
electricity.  And  a  further  walk  of  200  or  300  yards 
brings  one  to  a  farm  with  windmill  and  power  of 
its  own,  besides  light  at  will  in  farmhouse,  cowsheds 
and  pigsties.  Then  there  is  also  the  principal's  model 
farm,  and  a  model  orchard,  showing  what  kinds  of 
fruit  trees  thrive  best  on  a  sandy  soil ;  a  Sloyd  school ; 
a  school  of  domestic  industries;  and  one  for  home 
weaving.  Many  of  the  visitors  are  cottars,  small  peas- 
ant proprietors,  travelling  round  with  help  from  vari- 
ous funds,  in  search  of  practical  hints. 

"Mr.  Schroeder  himself  tells  what  generally  happens 
at  such  a  visit.  After  they  have  seen  all  they  can 
out  of  doors,  they  ask  to  go  in  to  a  lecture,  which  is 
flexible  enough  to  allow  of  a  few  words  for  them- 
selves. He  calls  to  their  remembrance  item  by  item 
all  they  have  just  seen,  and  shows  how  it  puts  to 
shame  the  charges  brought  from  time  to  time  against 
himself  and  colleagues,  perhaps  in  the  very  districts 
from  which  his  guests  have  come,  of  taking  up  the 
time  of  his  pupils,  with  what  from  the  practical  point 
of  view  is  often  regarded  as  ' useless  nonsense.'  If 
they  had  seen  so  much  at  Askov  on  the  part  of  its 
teachers  and  former  pupils  that  showed  capacity  in 
the  practical  world,  the  reason  was  that  the  school 
in  putting  a  new  spirit  into  its  pupils  and  enlarging 
their  outlook — all  'useless  nonsense'  from  the  prac- 
tical point  of  view — was  in  an  indirect  way  promot- 
ing the  disposition  and  increasing  the  courage  of  its 
pupils,  to  accomplish  some  capable  work  in  the  world 
outside.    And  Mr.  Schroeder  goes  on  to  add:  'After 


102  DENMARK 

thirty-six  years  in  the  service  of  the  Folkdjohskole,  I 
have  not  been  able  to  give  up  the  faith  with  which  I 
began  my  work.  Our  way  through  life  goes  from 
within  outwards ;  if  that  which  is  within  a  man  be  set 
in  the  right  direction  it  will  bear  fruit  in  the  whole  of 
his  outer  activity ;  a  real  enlightenment  of  spirit  in  the 
man  at  full  age  will  call  forth  the  energy,  capacity 
and  perseverance,  which  are  more  necessary  than  ac- 
quirements, when  we  come  to  the  solution  of  practical 
problems.'  "* 

Course  op  Study.  The  course  of  study  at 
Lyngby  near  Copenhagen  is  typical  of  the 
courses  offered  in  most  of  the  agricultural 
schools.  The  entrance  requirements  include 
some  familiarity  with  farm  work  and  attend- 
ance at  a  folk  high  school.  The  school  offers  a 
six  months '  and  a  nine  months'  course  for  young 
men.  The  six  months '  course  includes  chemis- 
try (organic  and  inorganic),  physics,  study  of 
soils,  treatment  of  soils,  including  meadow  and 
moorlands,  irrigation  and  drainage,  study  of 
fertilizers,  rotation  of  crops,  plant  culture, 
study  of  weeds,  seed  culture,  plant  diseases, 
study  of  breeds  and  breeding,  judging  horses 
and  cattle,  diseases  of  domestic  animals,  feed- 
ing, horseshoeing  and  smithing,  dairying,  farm 

1  Verdena  Gang   (Christiania),  Sept.  26  and  27,  1898. 


MAKING  FARMING  ALLURING       103 

machinery,  farm  accounting,  drawing,  survey- 
ing and  leveling,  arithmetic,  written  themes, 
Danish,  history  of  agriculture,  and  the  study  of 
how  to  overcome  commercial  faults  in  domestic 
animals.  The  nine  months'  course  includes  all 
the  above,  but  is  more  detailed.  Lectures  in 
sociology  and  economics,  with  special  reference 
to  rural  life,  are  added.  Some  work  is  also  of- 
fered for  students  who  desire  to  become  "con- 
trol" assistants, — local  agricultural  experts  of- 
fering advice  in  dairying,  fertilization,  etc. 
Those  who  wish  to  become  members  of  the  large 
class  of  government  experts  in  swine  culture, 
dairying,  etc.,  may  get  their  final  preparation 
at  Copenhagen  in  the  Royal  Veterinary  and 
Agricultural  Institute. 

The  schools  described  above  are  for  the 
gaardmaend  or  well-to-do  farmers.  In  addition 
there  are  a  number  of  agricultural  schools  for 
farmers  having  very  small  holdings.  They  are 
called  husmaendsskoler,  or  schools  for  the  hus- 
maend.  These  combine  the  most  valuable  fea- 
tures of  the  folk  high  school  with  those  of  the 
agricultural  school  and  make  a  point  of  short 
courses  for  small  holders  of  any  age  or  prepara- 
tion. Bee  culture,  chicken  raising  and  other  side 
lines  receive  much  attention.   Any  small  holder 


104  DENMARK 

with  a  problem  may  go  to  these  schools  and  ob- 
tain the  desired  assistance. 

Schools  fob  Small  Holders.  Seventy-five 
thousand  Danish  farmers  face  the  difficulty  of 
making  a  living  out  of  three  to  seven  acres  of 
land,  and  their  problems  are  necessarily  some- 
what different  from  those  of  the  larger  farmers. 
The  three  husmaendssholer  are  doing  remark- 
ably good  work  in  helping  them. 

The  Odense  Husmaendsskole,  which  was  or- 
ganized in  1908  by  the  United  Association  of 
Small  Holders  in  the  Island  of  Fiinen,  has  spe- 
cial courses  for  young  women,  to  aid  them  in 
their  difficult  role  of  helpmate  on  the  small  farm. 
There  are  also  two  courses  for  artisans — car- 
penters, masons,  etc. — and  two  for  "control" 
assistants. 

The  following  is  a  description  of  an  ordinary 
day's  work  in  one  of  the  folk  high  schools 
opened  in  18C5,  as  given  to  a  group  of  English 
visitors  in  August,  1905.  The  school  described 
was  Vallekilde,  one  of  the  largest  in  Denmark.1 

"  'The  main  object  of  this  school,'  said  the  prin- 
cipal, '  is  not  to  impart  to  our  pupils  a  mass  of 

1  Special  Report  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  Great  Britain 
on  Schools,  Public  and  Private,  in  the  North  of  Europe. 


MAKING  FARMING  ALLURING        105 

useful  information — that  is  only  a  secondary  aim. 
The  principal  aim  is  to  impart  to  them  a  spiritual 
view  of  life,  so  that  they  may  see  there  is  some  sense 
in  their  existence  and  some  connection  in  all  that  hap- 
pens, in  little  as  in  great  events.  They  will  thus  be 
prepared  to  enter  on  the  work  of  life  with  good  hope 
and  faith,  the  faith  that  there  is  a  direction  from 
above  in  all  that  happens.  The  students  are  of  all 
ages  over  eighteen  years,  most  of  them  being  twenty 
and  twenty-five,  and  come  from  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
try and  all  classes  of  society,  though  the  majority 
belong  to  the  class  of  small  freeholders  and  cottars, 
which  is  so  numerous  in  our  country. 

"  'Now  I  should  like  to  give  you  the  picture  of 
a  single  day  here  in  the  winter  months,  when  we 
have  from  190  to  200  young  men  under  our  care  from 
the  beginning  of  November  to  the  end  of  March. 

* '  '  The  bell  rings  them  up  at  7  o  'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing. They  then  dress,  make  their  beds,  sweep  out 
their  rooms,  wash  and  at  7:30  are  ready  for  a  cup 
of  coffee  and  a  bun. 

"  'At  a  quarter  to  eight  the  principal  has  morning 
prayers  with  his  household ;  there  also  are  to  be  found 
most  of  the  students,  though  attendance  is  not  com- 
pulsory. First  a  hymn  is  sung,  then  are  repeated 
baptismal  vows,  the  Apostles'  Creed  and  the  Lord's 
Prayer.  Another  short  hymn  brings  the  service  to  a 
close. 

"  'At  eight  o'clock,  four  mornings  in  the  week,  I 
give  a  lecture  on  geography,  and  thereby  I  try  to  show 
the  audience  what  relation  there  is  between  man  and 
the  earth,  and  how  far  the  people  in  the  various  coun- 


106  DENMARK 

tries  have  succeeded  in  reducing  the  soil  to  subjection. 
A  song  suited  to  the  theme  is  sung  both  before  and 
after  all  lectures.  On  the  two  other  mornings  our 
Free  Kirk  clergyman  lectures  on  Church  history. 

"  '  Breakfast  comes  at  9:15  and  consists  of  a  couple 
of  sandwiches  and  a  glass  of  home-brewed  ale. 

"  'At  half  past  nine  the  artisans  go  to  a  special 
department  in  a  house  a  few  minutes'  walk  from  here, 
where  they  are  taught  what  belongs  to  their  various 
trades ;  carpenters  in  one  room,  bricklayers  in  another, 
painters  in  a  third,  and  so  on.  Most  of  their  time 
there  is  taken  up  in  learning  to  execute  working  draw- 
ings. Likewise  the  fishermen  go  to  their  special  de- 
partment, where  they  are  taught  navigation  and  the 
natural  history  of  fishes  and  other  water  animals,  sea- 
plants,  etc. 

"  'The  farm-lads  stay  here  in  the  central  building 
and  are  divided  into  four  classes  held  in  various 
rooms ;  and  for  two  hours  practise  writing  and  draw- 
ing. From  twelve  to  one  the  principal  gives  a  lecture 
on  the  history  of  Denmark,  the  political  history  as 
well  as  the  history  of  civilization,  dwelling  more  es- 
pecially on  the  lives  of  noted  men  and  women  of  the 
last  century,  whose  work  we  are  continuing. 

"  'At  half -past  one  comes  dinner  in  the  large  room 
below. 

"  'At  half-past  two  the  artisans  and  the  fishermen 
go  to  their  own  departments  again  until  six  o'clock. 
The  farm-lads  in  the  meantime  are  taught  accounts 
and  arithmetic  for  an  hour  in  two  classes.  At  half  ■ 
past  three  these  last  have  gymnastics  according  to 
Ling's  system. 


MAKING  FARMING  ALLURING       107 

"  'At  five  various  teachers  lecture  to  the  farm-lads 
only,  on  physics,  on  the  geography  of  Denmark,  on 
hygiene,  and  the  history  of  the  world. 

"  'At  six  supper  is  taken. 

"  'From  7:30  to  8:30  lectures  for  the  whole  school 
are  given  on  the  history  of  Danish  literature  by 
Mr.  Hansen,  and  on  various  subjects  by  the  other 
teachers,  Mrs.  Hansen  twice  a  week  reading  aloud 
from  the  best  of  our  poets,  and  I  once  a  week  show- 
ing lantern  slides  or  glass  photographs  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and  explaining  them  to  the 
pupils. 

"  'From  8:30  to  9:30  the  artisans  and  fishermen 
have  their  gymnastics  while  the  others  have  leisure 
time  for  the  rest  of  the  evening.  But  you  will  under- 
stand there  is  not  much  leisure  time  for  any  of  them ; 
what  there  is,  is  used  for  writing  letters,  reading, 
conversing,  playing  or  short  walks. 

"  'At  10:30  the  electric  light  is  put  out  in  the 
schoolrooms. '  " 

The  women's  course,  as  nunterously  attended 
as  the  men's,  extends  over  May,  June  and  July; 
and  whilst  the  lectures  are  much  the  same  as 
those  for  the  men,  every  kind  of  work  done  with 
the  needle  takes  the  place  of  the  men's  technical 
classes. 

The  schools  all  emphasize  practical  topics, 
such  as  applied  surveying,  geography,  physics, 
chemistry,  biology,  sanitation  and  nature  study. 


108  DENMARK 

All  have  handiwork  and  various   phases   of 
household  economics  for  young  women. 

Household  Economics.  In  addition  to  these 
schools  there  are  at  least  twelve  rural  schools 
of  household  economics  in  Denmark  for  women. 
They  are  located  in  the  open  country  or  in  some 
rural  village.  They  have  a  little  land,  usually 
3  to  5  acres  for  supplies,  and  always  a  vegetable, 
fruit  and  flower  garden  as  part  of  the  school 
laboratory.  The  courses  are  usually  six  months 
in  length,  and  the  schools  are  open  the  entire 
year.  The  buildings  are  equipped  with  model 
kitchen,  dining-room,  living-room,  chambers, 
etc.,  and  the  curriculum  is  as  follows :  Natural 
science,  chemistry  and  physics,  with  special 
reference  to  the  household ;  preparation  of  food, 
food  values ;  the  theory  of  household  economics ; 
household  accounting;  baking;  butchering;  cur- 
ing meats;  pickling;  cleaning  house,  washing, 
ironing,  etc.;  plain  sewing,  dressmaking,  patch- 
ing, darning,  fine  needlework  and  embroidery; 
sanitation,  including  study  of  human  anatomy, 
laws  of  health  and  farmhouse  sanitation;  gar- 
den culture  and  care  of  kitchen,  fruit  and  flower 
garden;  preparing  vegetables  and  fruit  for 
keeping  and  for  winter  use.    Other  subjects  in 


MAKING  FARMING  ALLURING       109 

these  schools  are  literature,  gymnastics,  song, 
rural  sociology  and  reviews  in  any  of  the  ele- 
mentary subjects  in  which  the  student  may  be 
deficient.1 

But  the  feature  of  greatest  interest  in  these 
schools  for  the  husmaend  is  the  short  courses  for 
men  and  women,  young  and  old.  These  courses 
are  two  weeks  in  length,  and  begin  on  the  first 
and  third  Tuesdays  of  every  month,  and  con- 
tinue ten  months  in  the  year.  It  is  usually  the 
older  people  who  attend  these  short  courses,  and 
they  are  kept  separate  from  the  younger  stu- 
dents in  the  longer  courses.  'All  these  schools 
receive  government  support. 

Each  of  the  short,  or  two  weeks',  courses 
takes  up  one  subject ;  bee  raising,  seed  growing, 
chicken  raising,  fodder,  etc.,  and  all  are  ar- 
ranged for  the  most  suitable  season.  The  stu- 
dents have  free  board,  free  instruction  and  free 
traveling  both  ways,  and  they  may,  if  necessary, 
receive  assistance  to  pay  for  the  help  needed  at 
home  because  of  their  absence. 

The  Small  Holders  School  in  Zealand  was 
founded  by  a  man  who  had  great  sympathy  for 
the  husmaend.  An  immediate  response  came 
from  the  small  farmers,  for  they  felt  the  need 

1  Foght,  supra,  p.  35. 


110  DENMARK 

of  such  an  institution.  About  five  hundred  of 
them  offered  to  contribute  5  kroner  each  ($1.40) 
toward  the  realization  of  the  plan.  A  Zealand 
town  presented  some  forty  acres  to  the  school. 
The  remainder  of  the  necessary  capital  was 
partly  subscribed  and  partly  covered  by  a  loan 
from  the  Exchequer. 

Some  of  the  agricultural  schools  combine 
agricultural  with  practical  work,  both  for  those 
who  will  till  the  soil  and  those  who  will  be 
country  artisans,  thus  aiming  to  keep  alive  both 
branches  of  industry  necessary  to  a  well  bal- 
anced rural  life.  Some,  like  that  at  Vallekilde, 
have  the  long  day  grouped  about  three  main 
lecture  periods  of  60  minutes  each.  Lectures 
on  such  subjects  as  "  Social  Progress  in  Europe 
During  the  Latter  Part  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century"  are  regularly  given  before  the  young 
farmers,  who  seem  remarkably  well  acquainted 
with  Adam  Smith,  Malthus,  Carlyle  and 
Voltaire.  It  is  not  unusual  to  have  each 
class  period  begin  with  some  rousing  folk 
song.1 

Extension  Work.  The  work  of  all  these 
various  types  of  schools  is  supplemented  by 

1  Foght,  supra. 


MAKING  FARMING  ALLURING       111 

rural  extension  work  which  began  in  1874  with 
a  gathering  of  country  folk  at  the  Askov  high 
school  for  a  series  of  lectures  and  discussions. 
Soon  other  schools  began  to  hold  similar  meet- 
ings for  two-week  periods  in  the  autumn.  When 
the  buildings  became  inadequate  meetings  were 
held  in  nearby  groves.  The  themes  discussed 
cover  a  wide  range  of  knowledge.  At  first  only 
the  regular  folk  high  school  lectures  were  in- 
cluded, but  gradually  the  field  was  extended 
until  now  every  phase  of  ethics,  politics,  agricul- 
ture and  sociology  are  freely  discussed.  These 
gatherings  resemble  our  own  Chautauquas  in 
some  respects,  but  have  no  admission  fee  nor 
vaudeville  attractions. 

The  community  halls  and  gymnasiums  which 
may  be  found  in  every  rural  district  continue 
at  home  the  work  that  has  inspired  some  of  the 
young  people  in  the  high  schools.  The  state  also 
lends  aid  to  extension  education  by  encouraging 
traveling  courses  in  agriculture  and  house- 
hold economics.1 

In  addition  to  the  regular  schools  an  immense 
amount  of  other  extension  work  is  going  on  all 
of  the  time.  There  are  lectures  and  circle  work. 
Excursions  are  made  to  Copenhagen  and  else- 

i  Foght,  p.  38. 


112  DENMARK 

where,  while  the  cooperative  societies  have 
special  textbooks  for  the  use  of  the  farmers. 
The  papers  and  the  magazines  are  universally- 
read,  while  political  and  agricultural  meetings 
are  being  held  all  the  year  round. 


CHAPTER  X 

ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION 

Elementaky  education  has  much  of  the  original- 
ity of  the  People's  High  Schools.  It  is  adopted 
to  prepare  the  child  for  life  and  to  inspire  a 
love  of  country  and  of  agricultural  things. 
Denmark,  like  Germany,  has  given  the  most  in- 
tensive thought  to  education.  As  a  result  il- 
literacy has  disappeared.  It  is  only  .002  per 
cent,  which  is  a  negligible  figure  in  comparison 
with  other  countries.  It  is  lower  than  in  Ger- 
many, England,  France  or  Switzerland.  It  is 
much  lower  than  in  the  United  States,  where 
illiteracy  amounts  to  7.7  per  cent. 

Dr.  Maurice  F.  Egan,  former  minister  to 
Denmark,  says  that  the  Danes  are  probably  the 
best  educated  people  in  the  world.  The  farmer 
believes  that  education  should  fit  his  child  for 
the  kind  of  work  he  has  to  do.  And  the  children 
issue  from  the  elementary  schools  and  pass  on 
to  the  People's  High  Schools  and  the  agricul- 
tural schools  as  a  necessary  completion  of  their 
education.     Rider   Haggard,   who   has    spent 

113 


114  DENMARK 

much  time  in  Denmark  and  endeavored  to 
arouse  the  British  people  to  an  interest  in  agri- 
culture along  Danish  lines,  tells  the  story  of  an 
English  lady  meeting  a  Danish  lad  on  the  high- 
way, who  came  to  help  her  when  her  carriage 
broke  down.  She  found  that  he  could  speak 
German  and  French,  and  understood  but  did  not 
speak  English.  She  remarked  that  she  doubted 
if  she  would  find  in  England  a  farm  laborer  with 
such  knowledge  of  languages.  The  boy  replied, 
"Yes,  but  every  one  knows  that  the  English  are 
badly  educated." 

Adjustment  to  Life  of  PEOPiiE.  The  Danish 
elementary  schools  are  adjusted  to  rural  life. 
Instruction,  as  in  the  People's  High  Schools,  is 
simple  and  direct.  Geography  is  made  real  by 
connecting  it  with  the  cooperative  business  in 
which  the  boy's  father  is  interested.  He  is 
familiarized  with  other  countries  by  reference 
to  the  export  and  import  business  carried  on 
by  the  cooperative  societies.  This  is  indicative 
of  the  methods  employed  to  vitalize  education 
and  identify  it  with  the  everyday  life  of  the 
country. 

Elementary  education  is  free  and  compulsory 
from  the  age  of  7  to  14,  although  most  children 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  115 

enter  at  6  years.  The  law  is  rigorously  en- 
forced. The  teachers,  mostly  men,  are  mature 
and  earnest  and  devote  their  lives  to  their  pro- 
fession. They  are  comparatively  well  paid  and 
are  content  with  their  lot;  they  rank  high  so- 
cially, and  in  most  cases  make  use  of  their  op- 
portunities to  become  community  leaders  and 
organizers.  That  is  one  of  the  unique  things 
about  Denmark.  The  leader  of  the  community 
is  far  more  likely  to  be  a  teacher  than  a  lawyer, 
a  banker,  or  a  business  man.  He  is  the  political 
and  social  leader  and  is  very  likely  to  be  an 
agitator  for  some  political  or  social  reform. 
This  is  especially  true  of  the  high  school  prin- 
cipals. 

Elementaey  School  Curriculum.  During 
the  first  years  the  course  of  study  lays  emphasis 
on  language,  geography,  mathematics,  and  his- 
tory, together  with  nature  study,  religious  in- 
struction, music,  gymnastics  and  handwork  for 
the  girls.  At  fourteen  or  fifteen  most  Danish 
children  are  confirmed  in  the  state  church 
(Lutheran)  and  therewith  ends  free  instruc- 
tion so  far  as  the  state  is  concerned,  except,  of 
course,  in  the  many  state-aided  folk  high  schools 
and  agricultural  schools,  described  earlier. 


116  DENMARK 

Following  the  elementary  course  those  who 
desire  to  do  so  go  to  the  Middle  Schools,  which 
exist  in  all  the  organized  towns,  and  eventually 
through  the  Gymnasium  and  University.  Most 
of  them  however  remain  on  the  farm.  Later  in 
life,  at  the  age  of  eighteen  or  twenty,  a  goodly 
portion  of  them  go  to  the  folk  high  school  for 
six  months  or  a  year. 

How  Administered.  The  free  elementary 
schools  are  administered  jointly  by  the  govern- 
ment, the  church  and  the  local  authorities. 
General  administrative  supervision  is  vested  in 
the  Minister  of  Education,  who  is  advised  by 
educational  specialists  and  has  under  his  im- 
mediate direction  national  inspectors  of  music, 
gymnastics,  etc.  Uniformity  is  obtained  through 
this  central  administration,  but  nevertheless 
substantial  authority  is  placed  in  the  local  com- 
mune, whose  taxes  are  the  chief  support  of  the 
schools.  Local  ecclesiastical  authorities  also 
play  an  important  role  in  education.  Each  of 
the  seventy-three  deaneries  of  the  country  has 
a  general  board  of  education,  which  is  the  link 
between  the  Ministry  of  Education  and  the  local 
commune,  for  the  former  does  its  work  through 
the  deanery  boards.    Finally  each  of  the  1,134 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  117 

country  communes  or  parishes  is  divided  into 
two  or  more  schoolhouse  districts.  The  schools 
of  each  parish  are  directed  by  the  parish  council. 

The  law  provides  that  in  the  country  districts 
the  length  of  the  school  year  shall  be  at  least 
41  weeks,  six  days  a  week.  This  does  not  mean, 
however,  that  each  child  must  be  in  school  all 
that  time.  Country  children  must  receive  at 
least  18  hours  instruction  weekly  and  children 
in  provincial  towns  21  hours.  This  does  not  in- 
clude gymnastics,  household  economics  and 
sloyd  (the  Scandinavian  system  of  manual 
training)  which  are  as  a  rule  studied  after 
school  hours.  The  older  children  get  four  whole 
days  and  two  half  days '  schooling  in  winter  and 
three  whole  days  and  three  half  days  in  summer, 
while  the  order  is  reversed  for  the  younger  chil- 
dren. The  maximum  number  of  pupils  in  an 
elementary  class  is  fixed  at  35. 

The  subject  matter  of  the  course  of  study  is 
organized  in  such  a  manner  as  to  emphasize  (1) 
thoroughness  in  fundamental  subjects,  (2)  an 
understanding  of  the  environment  in  which  the 
children  live,  (3)  familiarity  with  subjects  of 
immediate  social  and  economic  value.  The  fol- 
lowing table  gives  the  curriculum  for  the  last 
two  years  in  the  Ejby  school  and  is  typical  of 


118  DENMARK 

what  is  taught  in  the  average  Danish  rural 
school : 1 

Subjects  Hrs.  per  week    Hrs.  per  week 

6th  year  7th  year 

Religion    3  3 

Danish  language  and  literature  ...  7  8 

Writing 1  i 

Arithmetic  and  farm  accounting  . .  3  3 

Special  farm  problems 1  2 

Geography    2  2 

History   2  2 

Biology  and  agriculture 3  4 

Song    1  l 

Drawing    2  2 

Gymnastics  (boys)    1  1 

Handwork   (girls)    1  1 

27  30 

Extra  gymnasium  for  girls,  22. 

Methods  of  Teaching.  Eeading  and  spell- 
ing are  not  taught  as  separate  arts  but  in  an 
incidental  way.  There  are  no  separate  spelling 
books.  The  Danish  language  is  largely  taught 
by  doing,  that  is  by  composition  and  dictation 
exercises.  Children  are  taught  to  be  painstak- 
ing and  accurate.  Geography  and  history  hold 
a  high  place  in  the  curriculum,  and  the  Scan- 
dinavian countries  are  emphasized.  Bible  his- 
tory lays  a  good  foundation  for  general  history. 
Nature  study  is  taught  informally  throughout 
the  first  three  years  and  in  a  manner  to  instill  a 
love  of  nature.    It  is  then  continued  as  biology 

1  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  58,  1913. 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  119 

and  agriculture  to  the  end  of  the  course.  Mental 
arithmetic  receives  more  attention  than  it  does 
in  American  schools,  and  the  children  are  quick 
and  accurate  at  it.  Mr.  Foght  gives  the  follow- 
ing description  of  a  recitation  in  mental  arith- 
metic in  the  sixth  grade : 

''The  sixth  grade  gave  an  interesting  recitation  in 
mental  arithmetic,  about  one-half  of  the  arithmetic 
period  being  devoted  to  mental  drills.  Hands  went 
up  with  answers  ready  almost  as  soon  as  the  figures 
were  completed.  A  careful  analysis  was  made  of  each 
problem.  There  seemed  to  be  no  laggards  in  the  class, 
for  all  hands  invariably  went  up.  Common  and 
decimal  fractions  were  placed  on  the  board  one  after 
another,  by  the  teacher.  For  rapidity  and  accuracy 
the  exercise  was  quite  remarkable.  The  three  Amer- 
ican visitors,  who  themselves  laid  claim  to  some  ability 
in  'figuring/  found  it  pretty  difficult  to  keep  pace 
with  these  sixth-grade  farm  children.  More  mental 
arithmetic  in  our  own  lower  schools  would  probably 
be  a  good  thing."1 

Danish  teachers  must  know  how  to  teach 
music.  Part  songs  are  sung  from  the  fifth  grade 
up.  Most  of  the  country  schools  do  not  teach 
manual  training,  but  the  village  schools  do  ex- 
cellent work  in  sloyd. 

*H.  W.  Foght,  supra. 


120  DENMARK 

School  Architecture.  All  new  rural  schools 
must  be  constructed  in  accordance  with  a  cir- 
cular issued  by  the  Ministry  of  Education.  The 
site  must  be  large,  sightly  and  sanitary,  the 
building  must  be  provided  with  good  heating  ap- 
paratus, floors  and  woodwork  must  be  washed 
daily  and  the  furniture  wiped  with  a  damp  cloth. 
These  are  but  a  few  of  the  provisions  for  keep- 
ing school  buildings  in  proper  condition.  All 
the  new  schools  have  well  equipped  indoor  gym- 
nasiums, and  those  that  were  built  before  have 
outdoor  playgrounds,  fitted  with  gymnastic  ap- 
paratus. 

Status  of  Teachers.  Free  homes  are  pro- 
vided for  all  country  teachers,  ranging  from 
three  room  suites  for  unmarried  women  teach- 
ers to  seven  and  eight  rooms  for  married  men. 
As  a  rule  these  homes  are  built  in  close  connec- 
tion with  the  main  school  building.  Where 
there  are  two  teachers  having  suites  in  the 
school,  each  has  a  separate  entrance.  This  sys- 
tem of  housing  teachers  is  very  successful  and 
does  much  toward  developing  community 
leadership  in  the  teacher.  Each  teacher  is  en- 
titled to  a  garden,  planted  to  fruit,  shrubbery 
and  sometimes  vegetables  at  community  ex- 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  121 

pense.  This  garden  serves  incidentally  as 
the  laboratory  for  the  nature  study  classes. 
This  still  further  contributes  to  making  the 
school  the  rallying  center  for  community  ac- 
tivities. 

All  teachers  must  be  trained  in  the  state  nor- 
mal schools.  The  minimum  requirement  is 
graduation  from  one  of  the  twenty  state  normal 
schools,  which  have  a  three  years'  course  of 
study,  and  then  a  period  of  substituting  before 
the  final  appointment  is  made.  Once  they  have 
received  an  appointment  teachers  usually  re- 
main in  a  community  the  rest  of  their  lives  and 
grow  up  with  it.  The  state  sees  to  it  that  teach- 
ers are  paid  salaries  commensurate  with  the 
long  and  severe  training  required.  This  has 
been  the  case  particularly  since  the  law  of  1908. 
The  state  prescribes  that  a  beginning  " first" 
teacher,  or  teacher  in  charge  of  a  one-teacher 
school,  shall  be  paid  not  less  than  900  kroner 
nor  more  than  1,400  kroner,  which  salary  is  paid 
by  the  commune.  Adding  to  this  the  income 
from  the  garden,  free  rent  and  fuel,  the  living  is 
comfortable.  Every  four  years  increases  in  sal- 
ary are  provided  by  the  state,  and  the  largest 
item  of  state  aid  to  the  schools  is  in  this  form. 
Second  teachers  and  women  teachers  are  paid 


122  DENMARK 

less  at  the  beginning,  but  also  on  a  sliding  scale. 
After  twenty  years  of  service  a  teacher  often 
enjoys  an  income  of  3,400  kroner  (including  the 
items  mentioned  above),  which,  although  only 
$920  in  our  money,  had  in  Denmark  a  purchas- 
ing value  of  $1,500  to  $1,800.  The  average 
salary  for  teachers  in  rural  and  city  schools  in 
the  United  States  is  only  $485.  Pensions  are 
provided  for  all  permanently  employed  teach- 
ers, which  they  may  receive  if  sick  or  disabled 
even  after  only  five  years'  service,  the  amount 
of  the  pension  depending  on  the  length  of  serv- 
ice. In  the  case  of  teachers  who  have  developed 
tuberculosis  while  in  the  service,  the  rules  are 
even  more  lenient.  They  receive  a  pension  of 
two-thirds  of  their  salary  upon  retirement. 
The  above  figures  for  salaries  for  Danish  teach- 
ers are  from  before  the  war.  During  the  war 
and  especially  by  the  law  that  went  into  effect 
October  1, 1919,  the  salaries  have  been  consider- 
ably increased.  A  ' 'first' '  teacher  in  the  coun- 
try now  starts  with  a  salary  of  about  4,000 
kroner,  and  can  reach  6,100  kroner.  A  "second' p 
teacher  begins  with  a  salary  of  about  3,600 
kroner,  and  can  reach  5,140  kroner.  Women 
teachers  in  the  preparatory  schools  start  at  a 
salary  of  2,800  kroner  and  can  reach   3,750 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  123 

kroner.  In  the  cities  the  teachers  begin  with  a 
salary  of  about  4,500  kroner  and  can  reach  8,400 
kroner. 

The  law  provides  that  if  the  semi-annual  re- 
ports on  the  cost  of  living,  published  by  the 
Danish  Statistical  Department,  show  a  rise  in 
prices,  the  salaries  of  the  teachers  shall  auto- 
matically be  increased  in  proportion.  This  pro- 
vision of  automatic  increases  corresponding  to 
the  cost  of  living  applies  also  to  all  government 
employees  and  an  agreement  to  the  same  effect 
is  in  force  in  all  industries  and  trades. 

The  community  taxation  for  school  purposes 
is  enough  to  encourage  local  initiative,  and  the 
state  aid  to  communities  is  sufficient  to  equalize 
the  educational  advantages  for  the  nation.  The 
government  encourages  the  building  of  modern 
school  structures  by  assisting  in  reducing  the 
face  of  loans  occasioned  by  the  erection  of  such 
structures,  including  teachers '  homes.  It  also 
pays  for  the  maintenance  of  evening  schools  in 
the  country  and  gives  direct  aid  to  poor  and 
needy  communes. 

Democracy  and  Education.  In  elementary 
education  as  in  the  high  schools,  we  find  a  cross 
section   of  Denmark.     Democracy,   far   from 


124  DENMARK 

leveling  down,  spends  more  generously  for  edu- 
cation and  gives  it  far  more  thought  than  in 
England  or  in  any  of  the  monarchical  or  priv- 
ileged countries  in  Europe.  The  teacher  oc- 
cupies a  distinguished  place  in  the  community 
and  the  profession  is  esteemed  highly  by  all 
classes.  When  one  compares  the  freedom  of  the 
Danish  teacher  with  the  inquisitional  methods 
employed  in  New  York,  in  Washington  and  in 
other  cities,  when  one  considers  the  scrutiny  of 
opinions  by  local  boards  of  education  all  over 
the  country,  it  is  easy  to  understand  why 
men  and  women  are  eager  to  enter  the  teach- 
ing profession  in  Denmark  while  they  are 
escaping  from  it  as  rapidly  as  possible  in  this 
country. 

Education  in  Denmark  treats  the  teacher  as  a 
free  person.  It  appeals  to  the  best  the  instruc- 
tors have  to  offer.  It  invites  originality,  re- 
search, stimulus  and  community  activity,  while 
in  the  United  States  these  qualities  are  a  dan- 
gerous thing  for  a  teacher  to  possess.  This 
is  as  true  of  our  colleges  as  it  is  of  our  schools. 
We  denature  our  teachers  and  wonder  why 
teaching  is  so  bad.  It  is  not  the  lack  of  equip- 
ment, it  is  not  a  lack  of  talent ;  the  reason  teach- 
ing is  lacking  in  inspiration  in  this  country, 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  125 

the  reason  why  our  schools  are  lacking  in  in- 
terest to  the  teacher  and  the  pupil,  is  the  posi- 
tion in  which  we  have  placed  the  teacher  and 
the  denial  of  any  right  to  opinions  or  to  action 
on  any  subject  of  vital  or  commanding  interest 
to  the  community. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  SOUL  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

Why  has  the  world  passed  by  the  cultural  pos- 
sibilities of  agriculture?  Possibly  the  explana- 
tion, as  Grundtvig  suggested,  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  education  has  always  been  a  privileged 
thing ;  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  training  preach- 
ers, lawyers,  teachers  and  gentlemen  of  leisure. 
Up  to  quite  recently  education  was  an  exclusive 
thing.  It  was  part  of  the  caste  organization 
of  society.  This  is  why  the  classical  studies 
have  persisted ;  this  is  why  the  practical  sciences 
were  so  late  in  acquiring  a  status.  And  these 
old  educational  traditions  still  hover  over  us. 
They  discredit  utility,  the  bread-and-butter 
sciences,  and  the  non-classical  elements  in 
education. 

This  is  probably  why  agriculture  has  been  so 
much  neglected  as  a  cultural  study.  Farming 
was  the  business  of  the  peasant.  It  was  never 
the  business  of  the  gentleman.  Only  very  re- 
cently has  the  agricultural  college  begun  to 
make  its  way.    And  it  is  still  referred  to  as  the 

126 


THE  SOUL  OF  THE  PEOPLE  127 

" short  horn"  school.  Certainly  there  is  as 
much  culture  in  a  knowledge  of  the  processes  of 
nature  as  in  most  of  the  activities  of  industry 
or  the  applied  sciences. 

Farming  is  a  fine  art  in  Denmark.  It  is  the 
most  important  thing  in  the  state.  The  debates 
of  Parliament,  the  discussions  in  the  press,  the 
objectives  of  the  schools,  the  concern,  in  fact,  of 
all  the  people,  is  the  well-being  of  the  farmer. 
This  is  the  motive  of  Denmark,  just  as  banking, 
business,  commerce,  is  the  economic  motive  of 
other  countries. 

The  Danish  peasant  has  a  dignity  and  a  pride 
in  his  profession.  He  feels  that  it  is  worthy 
of  his  best  efforts.  And  he  is  as  interested  in 
fine  cattle,  in  his  annual  records  of  milk  pro- 
duction and  in  his  many  activities  as  is  the 
business  or  professional  man  of  other  countries. 

Farming  as  a  Fine  Art.  The  Danish  farmer 
studies  hogs  and  chickens.  He  knows  how  a 
cow  should  be  fed  to  produce  the  most  and  best 
butter.  And  he  makes  and  packs  his  butter, 
eggs  and  bacon  so  that  they  will  please  his  cus- 
tomer. A  trademark  has  been  adopted  for  but- 
ter, and  all  exports  bearing  this  stamp  must 
come  up  to  a  uniform  standard.   The  farmer  in- 


128  DENMARK 

sists  upon  the  most  careful  supervision  of  his 
dairy  and  slaughterhouse  in  order  that  the 
reputation  of  his  product  may  not  suffer  from 
an  indifferent  producer.  He  follows  up  com- 
plaints from  the  foreign  market.  A  few  years 
ago  when  there  was  a  protest  from  England  as 
to  the  quality  of  Danish  butter,  it  was  taken 
almost  as  a  reflection  upon  the  national  honor. 
The  state  itself  stimulates  agriculture.  Com- 
missions study  foreign  markets.  Experts  are 
sent  out  by  the  government  and  the  university 
to  aid  the  farmer  and  his  wife.  Stock  is  bred 
with  the  greatest  care,  while  chickens  are  se- 
lected for  their  quality  as  egg  producers.  Soil 
is  studied  and  the  latest  agricultural  and  dairy- 
ing implements  are  bought  either  cooperatively 
or  by  groups  of  men  in  the  same  village. 
Hardly  anything  is  left  to  chance.  The  careless 
and  indifferent  farmer  is  not  permitted  to  spoil 
the  reputation  of  the  state.  This  is  the  spirit 
that  animates  all  Denmark. 

Breeding  Fine  Cattle.  The  government 
grants  a  subsidy  of  200,000  kroner  a  year  to  the 
experimental  stations.  There  are  in  addition 
over  100  cooperative  experiment  stations  main- 
tained by  the  farmers  themselves.    In  this  way 


THE  SOUL  OF  THE  PEOPLE         129 

the  breed  of  cattle  is  improved.  It  is  worthy  of 
note  that  since  1897  the  value  of  agricultural 
products  has  increased  50  per  cent,  owing 
largely  to  the  scientific  methods  which  have  been 
introduced. 

Conferences  are  held  during  the  summer  and 
the  winter.  The  state  university  and  the 
agricultural  schools  promote  scientific  agricul- 
ture while  lecturers  go  out  from  Copenhagen  to 
the  most  remote  villages.  As  a  result  of  all 
these  activities  the  farmer  is  stimulated  to  a 
pride  in  his  calling.  He  is  not  unlike  the  scien- 
tist working  in  his  laboratory.  And  he  has  car- 
ried something  of  the  enthusiasm  of  the  scientist 
to  his  work.  This  has  created  a  pride  in  agricul- 
ture and  with  it  a  kind  of  culture  as  real  as  a 
culture  of  the  university.  The  farmer  has  be- 
come a  keen  and  persistent  politician.  And  he 
follows  politics  with  the  zest  of  the  ward  worker. 
The  farmer  supports  a  diversified  press.  He 
.keeps  in  touch  with  the  People's  High  Schools. 
He  has  created,  in  fact,  a  farm  life  which  is 
unequaled  in  the  world. 

Eesults  of  the  Policy.  Speaking  of  the  im- 
provement which  has  come  in  farming  and  farm 
products,  as  a  result  of  this  intensive  produc- 


130  DENMARK 

tion,  the  Hon.  Maurice  F.  Egan,  former  am- 
bassador of  the  United  States  to  Denmark,  says : 

"Danish  butter  commands  the  best  price  in  the 
English  market  because  its  quality  is  invariable. 
There  is  no  falling  off  either  in  richness  or  in  flavor 
or  quantity  in  the  winter.  And  so  careful  are  the 
creameries  as  to  the  flavor  of  the  milk  that  there  are 
certain  foodstuffs  forbidden  to  be  fed  to  the  cows. 
The  utmost  care  is  used  by  the  Danish  farmers  to 
preserve  the  flavor  of  their  milk.  That  this  is  success- 
ful is  due  to  team  work.  The  natural  competitors 
of  the  Danish  butter  makers  in  the  English  market 
would  be  the  Irish  for  whom  the  Right  Hon.  Sir 
Horace  Plunkett,  copying  Danish  methods,  has  been 
the  wisest  of  guides.  Irish  grass  makes  the  most 
exquisitely  flavored  butter  in  the  market,  but  the 
Irish  have  not  caught  the  art  of  Danish  cooperation, 
and  for  some  unexplainable  reason  they  do  not  make 
butter  for  export  in  winter.  Not  very  long  ago  there 
was  a  complaint  from  England  that  the  quality  of 
Danish  butter  was  falling  off.  It  was  treated  in 
Denmark  as  if  the  national  honor  had  been  attacked 
and  whatever  reason  of  complaint  existed  was  re- 
moved at  once  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  nation. 
It  was  not  a  local  question  but  a  national  one. 

"The  scientific  treatment  of  the  cow  is  never  re- 
laxed for  a  moment.  It  has  become  a  habit  with  the 
large  and  the  small  farmer  and  his  dependents.  The 
cow  to  him  is  a  milking  machine  whose  power  of 
production  is  to  be  approached  exactly  as  if  she  was 


THE  SOUL  OF  THE  PEOPLE         131 

of  steel  and  iron.  The  Danish  farmer  takes  few 
chances.  The  unhappy  chance  he  has  to  take  is  from 
the  foot  and  mouth  disease  against  which  he  and  his 
government  use  the  most  drastic  measures.  In  one 
great  farm  in  Denmark  precautions  against  tuber- 
culosis are  carried  so  far  that  each  cow  has  her  own 
drinking  vessels  and  every  precaution  is  taken  to  keep 
her  from  infection  should  there  be  danger."1 

Studying  Cows.  Cattle  are  generally  stall 
fed.  "Practically  all  Danish  cows  are  kept  in 
stables  for  the  greater  portion  of  their  lives. 
Many  of  them  indeed  are  lifelong  prisoners. 
The  sheds  are  built  in  a  large  and  airy  style,  and 
the  atmosphere  within  them  is  just  as  pure  as 
the  air  over  the  fields.  For  exercise  the  animals 
are  taken  to  be  watered  once  a  day.  The  effect 
of  rain  and  cold  on  the  yield  of  milk  is  known 
to  a  nicety.  Those  fortunate  cattle  which  are 
placed  in  the  fields  in  the  summer  are  tied  to  a 
stake  with  a  range  of  but  eight  yards. 

"  An  inspector  from  the  Scientific  Control  As- 
sociation visits  the  farms  once  every  three 
weeks.  Each  cow  is  examined,  its  yield  of  milk, 
the  percentage  of  butter  fat,  the  amount  of  fod- 
der consumed,  are  analyzed  and  the  surplus  cal- 

1  Address  by  Hon.  Maurice  Francis  Egan,  Government  Print- 
ing Office,  Senate  Document,  No.  992,  62nd  Congress,  3rd  Ses- 
sion. 


132  DENMARK 

culated.  It  is  thus  possible  for  each  fanner  to 
know  precisely  how  each  cow  pays  him  and  fur- 
ther to  compare  his  animals  with  those  of  his 
neighbors.  As  soon  as  a  cow  ceases  to  pay  it 
is  fed  up  for  the  butcher. ' ' * 

1  Denmark  and  the  Danes,  p.  135. 


CHAPTER  XII 

A  GOVERNMENT  OF  FARMERS 

The  farmers,  and  during  the  war  the  farmers 
and  socialists,  control  the  government  of  Den- 
mark. This  is  another  explanation  of  the  coun- 
try. Denmark  is  one  of  the  few  states  in  the 
world  in  which  the  privileged  classes  have  been 
exiled  from,  political  power, by  means  of  the  bal- 
lot. The  Danish  peasant  and  the  Danish  worker 
have  carried  political  democracy  farther  than 
in  any  other  country.  They  first  reduced  the 
authority  of  the  king.  The  landed  aristocracy 
were  next  shorn  of  power.  For  over  a  gen- 
eration the  peasants  haye  controlled  the  lower 
house,  and  along  with  the  workers  they  now 
control  both  houses  of  Parliament,  the  cabinet 
and  all  of  the  governing  agencies  of  the  country. 
Denmark  is  a  political  democracy  in  the  fullest 
sense  of  the  term. 

The  Beginning  of  the  Political  Revolution. 
The  beginning  of  the  control  of  the  state  by 
the  peasants  dates  back  to  about  1872,  when 

133 


134  DENMARK 

the  farmers  after  a  long  struggle  obtained 
a  majority  of  the  lower  house  of  Parliament. 
Prior  to  this  time  political  controversies 
had  waged  about  external  politics  and  es- 
pecially over  the  question  of  Sleswig-Hol- 
stein. 

Government  by  the  Peasants.  During  the 
greater  part  of  this  period  from  1872  to  1920, 
the  peasants  have  had  a  working  majority  in 
the  lower  house.  "With  the  exception  of  the  war 
period  when  a  more  radical  group  was  in  power 
they  have  shaped  legislation  during  these  years. 
The  tariff  has  been  reduced  to  an  average  of 
five  per  cent.  The  Danish  peasant  is  willing  to 
stand  on  his  own  feet.  He  did  not  even  demand 
a  protective  tariff  when  the  cheaper  wheat  of 
America  threatened  him  with  bankruptcy,  about 
the  middle  of  the  last  century.  He  set  to  work 
to  change  agricultural  methods,  so  that  no  com- 
petition could  reach  him  unless  it  were  more 
efficient.  The  railroads  were  operated  by  the 
state  in  the  interest  of  agriculture.  Rates  were 
adjusted  to  encourage  exports.  There  is  very 
little  concern  over  profits.  In  fact,  the  rail- 
roads earn  barely  two  per  cent  on  the  capital. 
In  railroading  and  in  taxation,  politics  in  Den- 


A  GOVERNMENT  OF  FARMERS      135 

mark  reflects  the  interest  of  the  majority  of  the 
people. 

The  evolution  of  Danish  politics  presents  in 
a  vivid  way  the  widening  out  of  power  that  has 
been  going  on  all  over  the  world  since  the 
French  Revolution.  It  represents  the  substitu- 
tion of  one  group  after  another.  With  the  shift- 
ing of  political  power,  new  issues  emerged. 
International  questions  and  militarism  sank  into 
the  background.  The  one  desire  of  the  Danish 
people  is  for  peace  and  for  conditions  which 
make  for  just  international  relations  and  just 
domestic  relations  as  well. 

Economic  Classes  in  Danish  Politics.  In 
order  to  understand  this  evolution  it  is  neces- 
sary to  understand  the  several  economic  groups 
in  the  country.  The  line  of  cleavage  is  along 
economic  and  landed  lines.  And  the  political 
parties  quite  frankly  represent  the  economic  in- 
terest of  their  members.  There  is  first  the  king, 
who  is  a  popular  constitutional  monarch  respon- 
sive to  the  will  of  the  people.  He  is  retained 
as  a  titular  monarch  because  of  his  acquiescence 
in  democratic  institutions.  Next  there  is  the 
remnant  of  the  old  landed  aristocracy,  that  still 
owns  a  limited  number  of  great  estates  that 


136  DENMARK 

have  come  down  to  the  owners  from  earlier 
times.  More  or  less  closely  associated  with  the 
aristocracy  is  the  financial  or  capitalist  class 
which  has  far  less  power  than  in  other  Euro- 
pean countries. 

The  peasants  have  long  been  the  ruling  group. 
They  are  known  as  gaardmaend.  From  about 
1875  they  formed  the  majority  party  in  the 
lower  house  of  Parliament.  The  gaardmaend  is 
a  home-owning  farmer,  whose  farm  averages 
from  12  to  150  acres.  There  are  somewhat  over 
100,000  farmers  in  this  class.  And  it  has  been 
this  group  that  has  been  responsible  for  the 
democratic  legislation,  the  development  of  edu- 
cation, of  cooperation,  and  the  democratization 
of  the  government  during  the  last  forty  years. 
It  is  they  who  have  made  Denmark  an  experi- 
ment station  not  only  in  agriculture  but  in 
democracy  as  well. 

Below  the  gaardmaend  are  the  Jmsmaend. 
They  are  a  highly  interesting  class.  They  with 
the  socialists  of  the  towns  form  the  more  radical 
group.  They  correspond  to  the  agricultural 
workers  or  serfs  of  other  European  countries. 
As  a  class  they  are  either  owners  of  small  bits 
of  land  of  from  1/3  an  acre  to  twelve  acres  in 
extent,  or  are  agricultural  workers  on  the  farms 


A  GOVERNMENT  OF  FARMERS      137 

of  the  peasants  and  the  great  estate  owners. 
The  husmaend  form  the  lowest  class  in  the  eco- 
nomic scale.  They  have  to  eke  out  a  living 
by  working  for  some  one  else.  In  recent  years 
they  have  become  class  conscious.  They  have 
formed  a  political  party  and  have  entered 
politics.  They  have  built  schools  for  them- 
selves. They  have  a  press  of  their  own. 
There  are  125,000  of  these  very  small  farm 
holders  in  the  country.  Associated  with  the 
husmaend  are  the  agricultural  workers  and 
tenants. 

Taxation  of  Land  Values.  One  would  not 
expect  the  single  tax  or  the  taxation  of  land 
values  to  be  a  political  issue  in  a  country  like 
Denmark,  where  the  ruling  economic  class  is  the 
farmer.  Yet  the  single  tax  has  been  forced  on 
the  Danish  peasants ;  first  by  the  method  of  as- 
sessing the  income  tax,  and  second,  by  the  un- 
willingness of  the  large  estate  owners  to  permit 
their  holdings  to  be  split  up  into  small  farms. 
The  taxes  of  the  husmaend  may  be  five  times 
the  taxes  of  the  gaardmaend,  and  nine  times  the 
taxes  of  the  large  estate  owners.  The  state  as- 
sumes that  the  owner  of  a  small  piece  of  land 
will  produce  more  per  acre  than  the  owner  of  a 


138  DENMARK 

large  area.  And  it  adopts  this  assumption  as 
the  basis  for  assessing  the  tax.  As  a  result  the 
husmaend  saw  that  he  was  taxed  on  the  basis  of 
his  industry  and  thrift,  rather  than  on  the  basis 
of  his  opportunities.  He  was  punished  for  mak- 
ing his  land  more  fertile  than  the  large  land- 
owner or  the  peasant.  Being  a  free-trader, 
and  believing  in  direct  taxation,  he  argued  that 
all  land  of  equal  fertility  should  be  taxed  alike. 
In  addition,  he  argued  that  by  means  of  taxation 
the  larger  estates  would  be  more  readily  broken 
up  and  he  would  be  able  to  secure  a  holding  of 
his  own  at  a  low  cost.  The  large  landowners 
whose  estates  were  being  broken  up  were  de- 
manding speculative  prices  for  their  holdings, 
as  a  result  of  the  assistance  that  was  being  ren- 
dered by  the  state.  Increased  land  taxation,  it 
was  argued  by  the  husmaend,  would  make  the 
great  estate  owners  more  willing  to  sell.  So  he 
joined  with  the  agricultural  workers  and  the 
artisans  of  the  city  in  a  declaration  for  the 
taxation  of  land  values  and  the  abolition  of  all 
duties  and  taxes  levied  upon  articles  of  con- 
sumption. As  a  result  of  long  agitation,  the 
land  of  Denmark  has  been  revalued  so  as  to 
provide  a  basis  for  land  value  taxation,  and 
new  taxes  are  being  registered  in  conformity 


A  GOVERNMENT  OF  FARMERS      139 

with  the  political  demands  of  the  agricultural 
workers. 


Socialists.  The  socialists  of  Denmark  are  of 
the  moderate  type.  They  have  drawn  to  their 
support  a  considerable  portion  of  the  agricul- 
tural workers,  while  in  Copenhagen  they  have 
attracted  the  journalists,  the  professional  men 
and  small  tradesmen  to  their  ranks.  The  elec- 
tions of  1917  resulted  in  1,479  socialists  being 
elected  to  various  offices  in  the  town  and  rural 
community  councils,  while  in  fourteen  cities,  in- 
cluding Copenhagen,  the  socialists  obtained  a 
majority  of  the  council. 

The  socialist  movement  has  an  intellectual 
quality.  I  know  of  no  country  where  the  so- 
cialists and  trade  unionists  have  developed  edu- 
cational, cultural  and  press  agencies  as  they 
have  in  Denmark.  The  University  of  Copen- 
hagen has  entered  into  sympathetic  relationship 
with  trade  unionists,  and  has  provided  educa- 
tional work  to  meet  their  demands.  The  radical 
press  enjoys  a  wide  circulation.  It  has  con- 
tributed much  to  the  education  of  the  working 
classes  and  has  aided  them  in  the  development 
of  their  political  and  economic  program. 

Socialists   have   developed   the   cooperative 


140  DENMARK 

movement  to  some  extent  in  the  towns.  It  is  a 
great  cohesive  force.  The  workers  operate 
bakeries,  laundries  and  general  stores.  Latterly 
they  have  joined  with  the  peasants  in  a  scheme 
of  cooperative  banking. 

For  years  the  radical  groups  have  been  urg- 
ing a  revision  of  taxation  so  that  it  would  bear 
more  heavily  upon  well-to-do  classes.  As  a 
result  of  these  efforts  55  per  cent  of  all  state 
taxes  are  now  direct,  whereas  six  years  ago 
only  26  per  cent  of  the  revenues  were  collected 
from  direct  sources. 

Danish  politics  are  peculiar  in  the  fact  that 
the  issues  before  the  voters  are  so  clearly  and 
obviously  economic.  The  several  parties  from 
distinct  economic  groups  and  the  line  of  di- 
vision is  clearly  recognized  by  everybody.  For 
one  hundred  years  the  political  power  in  the 
state  has  been  shifting  from  one  group  to  the 
other;  first  from  the  king  to  the  landed  aris- 
tocracy; then  from  the  landed  aristocracy  to 
the  peasants  or  farmers;  and  finally  from  the 
farmers  to  the  agricultural  workers  and  the 
artisans  of  the  city. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

ENDING  LANDLORDISM 

In  other  chapters  we  have  seen  how  the  Danish 
farmer  had  become  a  middleman,  a  distributer 
and  a  capitalist :  of  how  he  had  invaded  the  field 
of  slaughtering,  dairying,  the  collection  and  sale 
of  farm  products  as  well  as  the  buying  and 
selling  of  merchandise  through  cooperative 
agencies.  The  Dane  has  chosen  to  work 
through  cooperative  agencies  rather  than 
through  state  socialism  as  in  Germany  and 
Switzerland.  The  Dane  is  an  individualist 
where  individualism  is  most  efficient  and  a  so- 
cialist where  the  state  is  most  efficient. 

Landlordism  was  a  political  problem.  It 
could  be  ended  only  by  political  action.  And 
the  peasants  are  abolishing  the  landlord  as  a 
claimant  on  labor,  just  as  they  abolished  the 
middleman.  Not  that  any  such  program  is  an- 
nounced; not  that  the  peasant  is  a  Marxian  or 
an  evolutionary  socialist;  rather  he  is  proceed- 
ing to  be  rid  of  one  economic  exploiter  after 
another  as  he  observes  its  effect  upon  the  coun- 

141 


142  DENMARK 

try.  In  time,  and  in  a  very  short  time,  the 
Danish  farmer  will  be  a  self-contained  economic 
unit,  owning  the  major  agencies  of  production 
and  distribution,  himself. 

The  Ending  of  Landlokdism.  Landlordism 
is  rapidly  disappearing.  ' '  The  day  of  landlord- 
ism, absentee  or  otherwise,7 ■  says  a  report  of 
the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  "is  a 
thing  of  the  past  in  Denmark.' '  This  is  not 
literally  true,  but  it  is  nearly  so.  According  to 
the  latest  statistics  of  land  ownership,  only  10.1 
of  the  farmers  of  Denmark  are  tenants  while 
89.9  per  cent  are  owners.  At  the  present  rate 
of  progress  the  farm  tenant  will  disappear  in 
a  few  years '  time. 

The  Danish  farmer  is  thus  a  landowner,  a 
capitalist,  a  middleman  and  a  worker.  He  is 
almost  completely  self-contained.  This  is  the 
more  remarkable  in  view  of  the  fact  that  up  to 
a  short  time  ago  Denmark  was  a  state  in  which 
much  of  the  land  was  owned  by  the  old  nobility 
whose  estates  had  come  down  to  them  from 
medieval  times. 

State  Aid  to  Would-be  Farmers.  State  aid 
to  tenants  had  its  beginning  in  a  law  passed  in 


ENDING  LANDLORDISM  143 

1875  for  the  creation  of  credit  banks  which  re- 
ceived aid  from  the  state  and  whose  object  was 
to  assist  men  to  purchase  small  holdings  of 
land.  This  was  as  far  as  the  first  measure  went. 
About  the  same  time  the  state  offered  prizes 
to  small  holders  who  worked  their  properties 
most  skillfully,  while  grants  were  made  to  them 
for  study  and  traveling  purposes.  The  conver- 
sion of  the  tenant  into  the  owner  proceeded  with 
such  rapidity  that  the  labor  supply  was  being 
affected.  The  big  estate  owners  were  losing 
their  hands.  This  increased  wages.  And  as  the 
big  estate  owners  were  influential  in  Parliament 
and  controlled  the  upper  house,  they  endeavored 
to  check  the  land  distribution  movement  by  mak- 
ing the  size  of  the  holding  so  small  that  the 
state-aided  farmers  would  have  to  accept  work 
on  the  large  estates  to  eke  out  an  existence. 
This  is  the  policy  that  was  followed  in  Germany 
as  well.  It  was  a  new  means  of  tying  the  men 
to  the  old  feudal  nobility.  But  this  effort  was 
unsuccessful.  And  during  the  intervening  years 
laws  have  been  enacted  in  1899,  1904  and  1909 
by  which  the  nation  has  entered  on  a  big  pro- 
gram of  land  distribution.  Under  the  Act 
passed  in  1899  two  million  kroner  a  year  were 
appropriated  for  this  purpose.    This  sum  was 


144  DENMARK 

subsequently  increased  to  five  million  kroner 
a  year.  The  fund  so  created  is  used  as  a  re- 
volving loan  fund  to  enable  would-be  farmers 
to  acquire  an  estate. 

Teems  of  Loans  to  Farm  Purchasers.  Un- 
der the  terms  of  this  act  any  one  possessing  a 
small  sum  of  ready  money  and  able  to  satisfy 
the  committee  in  charge  of  the  distribution  of 
the  fund  that  he  is  likely  to  succeed  is  able  to 
secure  aid  in  the  purchase  of  a  farm.  There  are 
several  conditions  the  applicant  must  meet: 

(1)  He  must  be  over  25  and  under  50  years 
of  age. 

(2)  He  must  have  been  a  tenant  or  agricul- 
tural worker  for  at  least  four  years  and  be  able 
to  satisfy  the  state  by  the  guarantee  of  two 
persons  of  good  standing  as  to  his  character. 

(3)  He  must  demonstrate  his  good  faith  by 
providing  one-tenth  of  the  cost  of  the  land  he 
desires  to  purchase  and  a  sufficient  sum  in  ad- 
dition to  reasonably  undertake  the  management 
of  a  farm.  When  these  conditions  have  been 
satisfied,  when  the  applicant  has  been  examined 
by  a  local  committee  and  approved,  the  state 
supplies  the  other  nine-tenths  of  the  cost  of  the 
farm  from  the  public  funds. 


ENDING  LANDLORDISM  145 

The  maximum  price  originally  fixed  for  the 
purchase  of  a  holding  was  $1,100,  which  included 
the  value  of  the  land,  improvements,  live  stock, 
etc.  Later  the  maximum  purchase  price  was 
increased  to  $3,200.  The  minimum  area  that 
may  be  acquired  is  5  acres.  Experience  has 
shown  the  average  size  of  the  holdings  acquired 
to  be  between  7  and  8  acres.  The  loans  ad- 
vanced by  the  state  are  made  as  easy  as  pos- 
sible for  the  purchasers.  The  rate  of  interest 
is  4  per  cent  and  payments  must  be  made  as 
follows:  During  the  first  five  years  only  in- 
terest on  the  capital  is  required.  This  gives 
the  farmer  a  breathing  spell  and  an  opportunity 
to  get  started.  Then  the  total  loan  is  divided 
into  two  parts,  one  of  two-fifths  and  the  other 
of  three-fifths.  The  three-fifths  section  is  con- 
verted into  what  may  be  called  public  stock  and 
is  placed  on  the  market  for  sale  with  the  guar- 
anty of  the  state  behind  it.  It  is  sold  through  the 
Mortgage  Bank  of  Denmark.  On  the  other  two- 
fifths  of  the  loan,  not  sold  as  public  stock,  the 
borrowing  farmer  must  pay  5  per  cent  interest, 
one  per  cent  of  which  is  used  for  a  sinking  fund 
for  the  repayment  of  the  principal.  When  the 
two-fifths  section  has  been  paid  off  in  an  es- 
timated period  of  A6y2  years,  the  three-fifths 


146  DENMARK 

section  is  then  converted  into  public  stock  to 
be  paid  off  in  the  same  manner,  the  entire  loan 
being  repaid  in  98  years.  The  administration 
of  this  fund  is  in  the  hands  of  local  commissions 
who  make  the  loans  and  supervise  the  invest- 
ments and  watch  over  the  loan.  These  commis- 
sions first  investigate  the  character  of  the  ap- 
plicant and  if  the  loan  is  approved  the  com- 
mission dictates  for  what  purposes  the  money- 
shall  be  spent. 

About  $1,340,000  is  advanced  annually  to 
small  owners  for  the  purchase  of  farms.  From 
1900  to  1916  a  total  of  8,200  farmers  had  been 
aided  in  this  way.  The  average  size  of  the 
farms  is  seven  acres  and  the  total  area  of  the 
first  5,777  farms  so  divided  was  48,748  acres. 
The  average  cost  of  the  farms  was  $81  an  acre.1 

Applications  for  loans  were  more  numerous 
than  could  be  accommodated  out  of  the  state  ap- 
propriation, and  from  the  beginning  it  was 
necessary  to  select  the  most  promising  candi- 
dates. All  told  the  state  has  advanced  about 
$12,500,000  for  this  purpose. 

Increase  in  Farm  Owners.  As  a  result  of 
these  measures  the  number  of  individual  farms 

1  Co-operation  in  Danish  Agriculture,  Faber,  p.  162. 


ENDING  LANDLORDISM  147 

owned  by  operators  has  increased  rapidly.  The 
total  number  of  farms  in  1850  was  180,090.  In 
1905  they  had  increased  to  289,130. 

During  the  same  period  the  freehold  farms  in- 
creased from  103,518  or  57.5  per  cent  to  259,874 
or  89.9  per  cent.  The  tenant  farms  decreased 
during  the  period  from  76,572  or  42.5  per  cent 
to  29,256  or  10.1  per  cent. 

Of  the  total  population  of  935,292  engaged  in 
agriculture  in  1911,  535,758  were  employers  and 
their  dependents  and  399,534  were  employees 
or  their  dependents.1 

Objection  was  made  by  the  large  estate  own- 
ers, who  opposed  these  measures,  that  the  10 
per  cent  provided  by  the  applicant  was  too  small 
a  security  for  the  state.  It  was  urged  that  the 
state  aid  should  be  reduced  to  a  smaller  sum. 
But  experience  has  not  justified  this  contention. 
There  have  been  very  few  mortgage  fore- 
closures and  no  loss  to  the  state. 

The  laws  referred  to  have  undoubtedly  in- 
creased the  value  of  agricultural  land.  This  has 
added  to  the  burdens  of  the  state-aided  farmers, 
just  as  it  has  in  Ireland.  Since  1878  the  price 
of  land  has  increased  53.8  per  cent,  but  in  the 

i  Co-operation  in  Danish  Agriculture,  Harald  Faber,  p.  161. 


148  DENMARK 

same  period  the  value  of  the  harvest  has  in- 
creased 100  per  cent. 

The  large  landowners  sought  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  Act  by  selling  the  worst  sections 
of  their  holdings  at  high  prices.  This  attempt 
has  been  met  by  the  organization  of  Land  Pur- 
chase Societies,  which  are  another  form  of  co- 
operation. These  societies  are  made  up  of 
farmers  who  desire  state  loans  and  who  com- 
bine into  unions  for  the  purpose  of  buying  good 
lands.  The  state  makes  loans  to  these  societies 
on  conditions  somewhat  similar  to  those  offered 
to  the  small  land  purchasers. 

The  state-aided  farmers  have  proved  to  be 
the  most  efficient  of  agriculturists.  The  number 
of  agricultural  bankruptcies  has  diminished  in 
recent  years.  During  the  last  five  years  prior 
to  the  war  the  number  of  failures  was  12  per 
cent  lower  than  during  the  preceding  eight 
years,  while  the  number  of  properties  sold  under 
foreclosure  or  compulsory  sale  was  40  per  cent 
less.  The  value  of  horses,  cattle,  machinery, 
etc.  has  been  increased  by  43  per  cent  during 
the  15  years  before  the  war. 

The  New  Danish  Land  Laws.  During  the 
War,    the    radical-socialist   group    came    into 


ENDING  LANDLORDISM  149 

political  power.  A  large  number  of  husmaend 
deputies  were  elected  to  the  Rigsdag  whose 
main  interest  was  in  the  easy  acquisition  of 
land  and  more  generous  provision  by  the  state 
for  its  purchase.  The  demand  for  land  was 
stimulated  by  the  decrease  of  emigration  to 
America.  In  ordinary  times  between  seven 
and  eight  thousand  Danes  emigrate  to  the 
United  States  every  year.  Most  of  them  become 
farmers,  settling  in  the  Middle  West,  where 
they  have  always  been  well  received,  and  have 
contributed  greatly  to  the  development  of  tho 
country.  In  addition  war  prices  gave  a  specu- 
lative value  to  land  which  greatly  increased  the 
difficulties  of  the  would-be  purchaser. 

The  radical  ministry  undertook  the  relief  of 
this  situation  by  a  series  of  measures  which 
provided  for  the  easier  expropriation  of  the 
larger  estates  and  more  generous  appropria- 
tions from  the  state  treasury  for  the  purchase 
of  small  holdings.  These  laws  included  a  new 
form  of  proprietorship  through  a  state  lease- 
hold. They  provided  that  any  man  qualified 
to  vote  for  a  member  of  the  lower  house  of 
the  Rigsdag;  who  could  secure  a  certificate 
from  the  town  council  that  he  was  a  sober  and 
industrious  person;  and  who  could  presumably 


150  DENMARK 

care  for  a  small  farm,  was  provided  with  means 
to  do  so.  To  obtain  land  under  these  laws, 
no  purchase  money  was  required  from  the  pros- 
pective owner.  He  was  only  required  to  pay 
interest  on  the  value  of  the  land,  fixed  by  the 
law  at  four  and  one-half  per  cent. 

This  is  the  most  radical  legal  step  yet  taken 
by  any  country  in  the  promotion  of  farm  own- 
ership. The  new  small  holders  rent  their  farms 
from  the  state,  the  rentals  being  determined  by 
the  value  of  the  land,  which  is  periodically  re- 
appraised. To  aid  the  tenants  in  making  im- 
provements, the  state  advances  money  on  favor- 
able terms.  Loans  are  granted  from  the  state 
treasury  up  to  nine-tenths  of  the  total  cost  of 
the  buildings,  upon  which  loans  the  borrowers 
are  not  required  to  pay  interest  for  the  first  ten 
years  on  more  than  it  would  have  cost  to  erect 
the  buildings  in  1914.  The  farmer  who  obtains 
a  farm  under  these  laws  enjoys  most  of  the 
rights  of  an  owner.  He  can  devise  the  farm  to 
his  children.  If  he  wishes  to  sell,  the  state  has 
the  first  right  to  buy  at  the  price  of  appraisal, 
the  owner  being  fully  compensated  for  his  im- 
provements. To  secure  land  and  provide  money 
for  this  program,  legislation  was  enacted  for  di- 
viding up  portions  of  the  great  estates  as  well 


ENDING  LANDLORDISM  151 

as  the  land  attached  to  the  residences  of  the 
state  clergy.  Under  the  latter  law  it  is  expected 
that  the  state  will  come  into  possession  of  100,- 
000  acres  of  land,  while  125,000  other  acres  will 
be  taken  from  entailed  estates  owned  for  the 
most  part  by  the  old  nobility.  As  a  result  of 
these  expropriation  and  settlement  proceed- 
ings, approximately  ten  thousand  families  will 
be  aided  to  acquire  their  own  homes  and  be- 
come independent  farmers. 

Credit  Unions  to  Aid  Farmers.  In  addition 
to  the  credit  agencies  referred  to  above  there  are 
many  organizations  of  a  cooperative  sort  to  as- 
sist the  farmer  who  already  owns  a  farm.  There 
are  twelve  such  credit  unions  in  Denmark, 
each  operating  in  its  own  section  of  the  country. 
These  unions  have  made  loans  on  mortgage 
upon  more  than  236,000  properties.  Their  aver- 
age annual  losses  during  ten  years  have  been 
only  one-third  of  one  per  cent,  and  these  have 
been  made  good  out  of  the  reserve  funds  which 
amounted  in  1914  to  $20,400,000.  Of  the  twelve 
credit  unions  two  are  Small  Holders  Credit 
Unions  for  making  loans  to  the  husmaend.  To 
encourage  these  unions  the  government  guar- 
antees their  bonds  up  to  4  per  cent  interest,  and 


152  DENMARK 

as  a  result  of  this  guarantee  these  securities  en- 
joyed before  the  war  a  somewhat  higher  value 
in  the  market  than  those  of  the  purely  voluntary 
credit  unions. 

The  credit  societies  are  of  great  assistance  to 
the  farmer.  Any  farm  owner  in  good  standing 
can  go  to  the  credit  union  in  his  region  and  sign 
a  promissory  note  acknowledging  that  he  is  in- 
debted to  the  amount  of  the  loan.  He  then 
executes  a  mortgage  upon  his  farm  to  the  credit 
union,  which  in  turn  issuer  notes  to  him  that 
he  is  able  to  dispose  of  anywhere.  They  have 
the  security  of  the  credit  union  behind  them  and 
are  easily  negotiable.  The  farmer  pays  a  fixed 
sum  annually  or  semi-annually  to  the  union, 
amounting  to  65/100  per  cent  per  annum  in  ad- 
dition to  the  interest  upon  the  mortgage.  One- 
half  of  one  per  cent  is  for  the  amortization  of 
the  debt  which  is  to  be  repaid  in  sixty  years' 
time.  The  loan  so  made  is  limited  to  60  per  cent 
of  the  value  of  the  property.  The  bonds  or 
notes  issued  by  these  credit  unions  to  farmers 
are  sold  upon  the  stock  exchange  or  privately 
the  same  as  any  other  merchandise  or  security 
whose  price  is  subject  to  quotations.  The  credit 
unions  are  purely  voluntary.  They  receive  no 
aid   from    the    government.      They   make    no 


ENDING  LANDLORDISM  153 

loans  on  the  personal  credit  of  the  borrower 
but  confine  themselves  to  mortgages  upon  the 
land. 

Faem  Indebtedness.  It  is  claimed  that  the 
ease  with  which  the  Danish  farmer  secures 
credit  through  the  many  agencies  created  for 
his  assistance  has  led  to  a  rapid  increase  in 
farm  indebtedness.  The  land  is  said  to  be  bur- 
dened up  to  50  per  cent  of  its  value  upon  which 
the  peasants  pay  over  $100,000,000  in  interest 
charges.  Moreover,  the  rapid  improvement  in 
agricultural  methods  has  involved  heavy  expen- 
ditures for  machinery  which  has  still  further  in- 
creased the  indebtedness  of  the  farmers.  How- 
ever that  may  be,  the  Dane  is  his  own  master. 
He  is  rapidly  abolishing  tenancy.  And  the 
efficiency  of  the  country  is  largely  traceable  to 
this  fact. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

SOCIAL  LEGISLATION 

One  would  not  expect  an  agricultural  country 
to  be  greatly  interested  in  the  industrial  worker 
or  in  legislation  designed  to  improve  his  con- 
dition. The  farmer  usually  has  the  capitalist 
point  of  view;  he  is  interested  in  securing  his 
labor  as  cheap  as  possible,  and  is  unwilling  to 
burden  himself  with  taxes  for  social  legislation. 
This  has  been  the  attitude  of  the  farmer  up  to 
very  recently  in  this  country,  and  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  coalition  between  the  farmers  and 
the  workers  in  North  Dakota  and  Minnesota 
there  has  been  little  suggestion  of  a  community 
of  interest  between  these  economic  groups. 

Denmark  is  predominantly  an  agricultural 
country.  There  is  no  mining  and  but  little 
industry.  The  commercial  classes  have  little 
political  strength  and  the  thousands  of  coopera- 
tive societies  have  weakened  the  power  of  the 
business  interests. 

Denmaek  a  Pacemaker.  Despite  these  facts, 
Denmark  has  long  been  a  pacemaker  in  social 

154 


SOCIAL  LEGISLATION  155 

legislation.  She  anticipated  many  countries  in 
her  social  insurance  laws  and  pioneered  in  many 
fields  for  the  protection  of  women  and  child 
workers  as  well  as  for  the  ablebodied  artisan. 
The  social  insurance  laws  for  men,  women  and 
children  (1914)  were  probably  in  advance  of 
the  laws  of  any  country  in  the  world.  The  aver- 
age working  day  before  the  war  was  but  9.8 
hours  in  length,  the  age  limit  for  child  factory 
workers  being  fourteen  years.  Working  moth- 
ers receive  maternity  insurance  in  the  form  of  a 
subsidy  from  the  state  for  one  month  after  the 
child  is  born,  while  other  laws  look  after 
the  health  and  well-being  of  the  woman 
worker. 

Social  legislation  began  with  old  age  pensions, 
the  first  act  being  passed  in  1891.  Partly  as  a 
result  of  this  measure  the  number  of  persons 
receiving  poor  relief  in  Copenhagen  has  fallen 
until  it  is  about  2^  per  cent  of  the  population  at 
the  present  time.  Measured  by  European  stand- 
ards the  pension  allowances  are  generous.  The 
state  does  not  require  that  the  recipient  shall 
have  contributed  to  the  funds  out  of  which  the 
pensions  are  paid.  The  money  is  raised  by 
taxation  and  in  recent  years  the  amounts  have 
been  materially  increased. 


156  DENMARK 

Old  Age  Pensions.  Pensions  are  granted  to 
any  needy  and  worthy  person  who  has  com- 
pleted his  sixtieth  year  and  who  has  not  re- 
ceived poor  relief  during  the  previous  five 
years.  The  pensions  are  not  granted  as  charity 
and  in  no  way  degrade  the  recipient.  The  al- 
lowances are  not  lavish  but  they  go  a  long  way 
in  Denmark.  They  vary  with  the  necessities  of 
the  case,  but  average  about  $70  a  year,  being 
somewhat  larger  in  the  towns  than  in  the  coun- 
try. The  pension  may  be  given  either  in  money 
or  in  kind,  or  the  recipient  may  be  taken  into  a 
home.  Several  homes  have  been  specially  built 
to  accommodate  this  class  of  people.  Twenty- 
two  per  cent  of  the  people  who  have  passed  the 
age  of  60  are  helped  by  these  pensions,  the  ex- 
pense of  which  is  borne  one-half  by  the  state 
and  one-half  by  the  local  government. 

Widows'  Pensions.  Under  the  widows'  pen- 
sions act,  which  became  effective  January  1, 
1914,  every  widow  who  is  the  mother  of  a  child 
or  children  under  14,  whose  property  and  in- 
come is  less  than  a  certain  amount  proportion- 
ate to  the  size  of  her  family,  is  entitled  to  a 
public  grant  toward  the  support  of  her  family. 


SOCIAL  LEGISLATION  157 

The  amount  of  assistance  varies  according  to 
the  age  of  the  children,  the  highest  allowance 
being  made  for  children  under  two  years  of  age. 
In  exceptional  cases  the  aid  may  be  extended 
till  the  child  is  18  years  of  age.  The  grants  are 
not  pauperizing;  in  fact  the  purpose  is  to  avoid 
this  very  thing.  They  are  given  only  to  mothers 
who  measure  up  to  a  certain  standard  of  fitness 
and  whose  homes  are  proper  places  for  bringing 
up  children.  They  are  conditional  upon  the 
mother's  not  becoming  a  subject  of  public  char- 
ity. Half  the  expense  involved  in  these  widows' 
pensions  is  borne  by  the  state  and  the  rest  by 
the  community  in  which  the  widow  lives.1 

For  each  child  under  two  the  widowed  mother 
receives  $40.00  a  year  as  state  aid.  For  each 
child  between  four  and  twelve  $32  is  granted, 
and  for  each  child  between  twelve  and  fourteen 
the  allowance  is  $24.00  per  annum. 

Sickness  Insurance.  Insurance  against  sick- 
ness has  also  been  widely  extended.  More  than 
one-half  of  the  adult  population  of  Denmark  be- 
long to  the  sick  clubs  or  mutual  sick  benefit  as- 

1  United  States  Department  of  Labor,  Children's  Bureau, 
"  Laws  Relating  to  Mothers'  Pensions  in  the  United  States, 
Denmark  and  New  Zealand."     Bureau  publication  No.  7. 


158  DENMARK 

sociations  of  the  country  which  confer  sick  bene- 
fits. There  are  about  1,500  of  these  societies 
registered  which  receive  official  recognition  and 
subsidies  from  the  state.  They  have  a  total 
membership  of  1,136,181  persons.  A  club  must 
have  a  membership  of  at  least  150  to  receive 
state  aid  and  membership  is  restricted  to  the 
working  classes.  The  benefits  paid  by  the  state 
in  cash  amount  to  about  $1,150,000  a  year.  Each 
club  is  limited  in  its  activities  to  a  designated 
town  or  parish.  The  assistance  granted  by  the 
government  amounts  to  54  cents  for  each  mem- 
ber on  the  rolls  and  34  cents  per  annum  towards 
the  fee  of  each  member.  The  annual  dues  of 
members  are  $4.00  in  Copenhagen,  $2.75  in 
smaller  towns  and  $1.25  in  the  country.  The 
benefits  to  which  a  member  is  entitled  in  case  of 
illness  are  free  medical  assistance  and  nursing, 
also  a  cash  grant,  which  may  not,  however,  ex- 
ceed two-thirds  of  his  earnings,  with  a  fixed 
minimum  of  12  cents  per  day.  This  assistance 
is  given  for  thirteen  weeks  and  sometimes  for 
twenty-six.  No  one  whose  income  is  over  $500 
or  who  is  above  40  years  of  age  is  eligible  to 
membership  in  the  sick  clubs. 

When  new  tuberculosis  sanatoria  are  erected 
the  government  contributes  $400  for  each  bed. 


SOCIAL  LEGISLATION  159 

Members  of  sick  clubs  may  secure  treatment  at 
these  and  other  state  aided  hospitals  at  half 
charge. 

Fishermen  are  subject  to  a  special  state  in- 
surance board,  to  which  they  are  required  to  pay 
$1.50  a  year.  In  sickness  they  receive  40  cents 
a  day,  in  invalidity  a  sum  of  $1,000,  and  in  case 
of  death  $700  is  paid  to  the  relatives.  The  bene- 
fits are  also  extended  to  sailors  in  the  mercan- 
tile marine. 

Much  is  done  by  the  state  in  the  way  of  send- 
ing city  school  children  into  the  country  for 
the  summer  holidays.  This  movement  has  been 
made  possible  by  free  tickets  given  the  chil- 
dren on  the  state  railways  and  steamers  and  by 
farmers  and  others  receiving  them  free  of 
charge.  During  the  summer  of  1902  more  than 
one-third  of  the  children  in  the  Prederiksberg 
municipal  schools  were  enabled  to  spend  their 
summer  in  this  way.1 

The  number  of  unemployed  in  the  cities,  es- 
pecially Copenhagen,  reaches  rather  high  fig- 
ures at  certain  periods  of  the  year,  being  some- 
times as  much  as  10  per  cent  of  the  laboring 
population  in  winter.    But  good  facilities  have 


i  Denmark  and  the  Danes,  Harvey,  p.  315.    See  Danish  Life 
in  Town  and  Country,  Brochner,  p.  37. 


160  DENMARK 

been  developed  for  meeting  the  situation.  The 
trade  unions  are  strong.  In  1898  the  coopera- 
tive union  of  the  various  trade  unions  in  Copen- 
hagen was  effected,  and  this  organization  has 
ever  since  held  a  firm  grip  on  Copenhagen  trade 
unionism.  The  labor  exchanges  in  Copenhagen 
alone  find  employment  for  40,000  workers  a 
year. 

Out  of  Work  Insurance.  Denmark  was  the 
first  country  to  provide  a  public  system  of  "out 
of  work  insurance  "ona  national  scale.  The  idea 
was  first  promoted  by  the  socialists  and  was  re- 
ferred to  a  special  commission  to  consider.  The 
bill  reported  by  the  commission  was  accepted 
by  all  parties  and  became  a  law  in  1907.  It  was 
necessary  for  the  success  of  the  plan  that  a  large 
number  of  persons  should  come  under  its  opera- 
tion, and  this  was  attained  through  the  labor 
unions,  which  were  able  to  compel  their  mem- 
bers to  insure  themselves  and  which  already 
provided  insurance  of  this  and  other  kinds. 
The  associations  which  control  the  unemploy- 
ment funds  are  organized  on  the  same  basis  as 
the  sick  funds  which  had  expanded  to  great  pro- 
portions in  the  preceding  ten  years.  The  sole 
object  is  to  support  the  members  in  case  of  un- 


SOCIAL  LEGISLATION  161 

employment,  when  this  is  not  due  to  strike,  sick- 
ness, arrest,  military  service,  or  caused  by  the 
worker  himself  having  thrown  up  his  employ- 
ment without  reasonable  excuse  or  been  dis- 
missed for  drunkenness  or  wilful  misconduct. 
Members  are  also  excluded  from  benefits  who 
are  in  receipt  of  poor  relief  or  who  refuse  to 
accept  work  secured  for  them  by  the  Fund  Com- 
mittee. The  minimum  age  limit  is  18  and  the 
maximum  60. 

The  Unemployment  Funds  are  supervised  by 
the  government,  to  see  that  their  treasury  is 
managed  separate  from  the  regular  trade  union 
funds  and  also  to  prevent  any  expenditure  for 
strike  pay.  The  funds  are  provided  (1)  by  as- 
sessments on  the  members,  (2)  from  municipal 
grants  and  (3)  from  state  aid,  the  state  con- 
tributing one-half  the  amount  raised  from  all 
other  sources.  The  assessments  upon  the  mem- 
bers are  about  28  cents  a  month,  which  entitles 
the  contributing  member  to  a  daily  benefit  of 
from  14  to  54  cents  during  the  period  he  is  out 
of  employment.  Employers  are  not  bound  to 
contribute  to  the  funds  and  have  no  voice  in 
their  management.  The  insurance  does  not 
cover  strikes  or  lockouts. 

In  order  to  enjoy  recognition  under  the  law 


162  DENMARK 

and  receive  support  from  the  state  the  following 
conditions  mnst  be  observed : 

The  fund  must  have  at  least  60  members  and 
be  confined  to  a  definite  trade  or  district.  A 
fund,  however,  may  be  nationwide  and  have 
local  divisions. 

The  law  provides  that  the  insurance  paid  shall 
not  exceed  two-thirds  of  the  ordinary  daily 
wage  of  the  workman  in  question,  but  other  as- 
sistance may  be  given  as  an  aid  to  traveling,  for 
rent  or  other  purposes.  An  applicant  for  aid 
must  have  been  a  member  of  the  fund  and  have 
paid  his  assessment  for  twelve  months  prior  to 
his  claim. 

Each  fund  elects  its  own  committee  of  ad- 
ministration. The  regulations  adopted  must  be 
approved  by  the  state  authorities  and  the  books 
be  open  to  inspection.  An  annual  meeting  of 
representatives  of  all  the  funds  is  held,  which 
elects  a  permanent  committee  of  six  which,  with 
a  state  official,  serves  as  a  general  supervisory 
committee  and  a  connecting  link  between  them 
and  the  state. 

The  first  year's  contribution  by  the  state  was 
limited  to  $75,000,  which  was  shortly  after 
raised  to  $315,000.  Within  the  first  few  years 
forty  funds  were  organized  with  about  75,000 


SOCIAL  LEGISLATION  163 

members.  Each  fund  covered  a  different  trade, 
as  bakers,  textile  workers,  engineers,  etc.,  and 
most  of  them  extend  their  activity  over  the  en- 
tire country. 

One  reason  for  the  immediate  success  of  the 
plan  was  the  experience  and  training  of  the 
men  in  trade  unions  and  cooperative  societies. 
Such  troubles  as  have  arisen  have  related  to  the 
details  of  administration  rather  than  to  the 
principle.  Nor  has  the  fear  that  the  funds 
would  be  used  almost  exclusively  by  those  who 
had  reason  to  fear  periodic  unemployment, 
proven  well  founded.  The  Danish  workman  is 
always  a  trade  unionist,  and  he  enters  the  em- 
ployment fund  organized  by  his  trade  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course.  Labor  exchanges  are  operated 
in  connection  with  the  funds  so  that  the  work- 
man cannot  avoid  work  if  it  is  found  for  him. 
By  1911  there  were  51  funds  with  a  total  mem- 
bership of  105,000.  More  than  two-thirds  of  the 
industrial  workers  of  Denmark,  women  as  well 
as  men,  are  members.1 

Cooperative  societies  are  not  as  well  devel- 
oped among  the  working  classes  as  in  the  coun- 
try districts,  although  the  unions  are  fostering 


1 "  Social  Denmark,"  P.  Schou,  Quarterly  Journal  of  Econo- 
mics, November,  1912. 


164  DENMARK 

them.  The  trade  unions  are  socialistic  in  char- 
acter, but  the  socialism  is  of  the  reform  rather 
than  the  Marxian  type. 

Trade  Unions.  There  are  about  1,500  trade 
unions  in  the  country  with  a  membership  of 
122,000.  The  employers  are  also  united  into  an 
association.  As  the  result  of  a  labor  controversy 
in  which  40,000  men  were  locked  out,  an  agree- 
ment was  reached  between  the  unions  and  the 
employers,  which  laid  down  definite  regulations 
for  collective  bargaining,  the  giving  notice  of 
strikes  and  lockouts,  and  for  other  industrial 
proceedings. 

In  order  to  assist  in  the  enforcement  of  such 
agreements  the  state  has  created  a  special  court 
composed  of  employers  and  employees,  with  a 
jurist  as  umpire,  the  object  of  the  court  being 
the  interpretation  of  collective  contracts.  There 
is  also  an  official  "  conciliator, ' '  appointed  by 
the  state,  whose  business  it  is  to  ascertain  full 
particulars  about  disputes  and  offer  official 
mediation.  The  award  of  the  conciliator  is  not 
binding  on  the  parties,  but  the  conciliator  may 
publish  the  result  of  his  investigation  and  bring 
public  opinion  to  bear  on  the  recalcitrant  party. 

The  workmen's  compensation  act  provides 


SOCIAL  LEGISLATION  165 

for  a  special  board,  which  fixes  the  amount  to 
be  paid  by  employers  to  workmen  injured  in  in* 
dustrial  accidents.  This  board  is  composed  of 
representatives  of  employers  and  employees  in 
equal  number,  together  with  some  members  ap- 
pointed by  the  state,  one  of  whom  acts  as  chair- 
man. This  act  formerly  applied  only  to  indus- 
trial workers  in  the  stricter  sense,  but  it  now  ap- 
plies to  agricultural  laborers  and  sailors  as 
well. 

From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  Denmark, 
though  an  agricultural  country,  has  enacted  a 
program  of  industrial  legislation  fairly  com- 
parable to  that  of  Great  Britain,  Germany, 
Australia  or  Switzerland. 


CHAPTER  XV 

RAILWAYS 

TflE  railroads  of  Denmark  are  operated  as  an 
agency  of  service.  They  are  the  country's  cir- 
culating system.  The  only  controversies  are 
over  the  question  of  whether  rates  charged  are 
the  best  that  could  be  devised  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  the  producer  and  the  convenience  of  the 
people.  The  roads  are  not  operated  to  make 
profit.  They  earn  scarcely  two  per  cent  on  their 
capital.  Many  lines  have  been  built  into  new 
and  unprofitable  territory  for  the  purpose  of 
opening  up  the  country.  This  has  imposed 
additional  burdens  upon  the  operating 
costs. 

State  Ownership.  All  of  the  main  railways 
are  owned  by  the  state.  And  during  the  ten 
years  prior  to  1900  they  have  developed  very 
rapidly.  This  was  due  to  the  action  of  the  gov- 
ernment. A  number  of  new  roads  were  built 
through  parts  of  Jutland  which  was  sparsely 
settled.  As  a  result,  there  has  been  a  gratifying 

166 


RAILWAYS  167 

increase  in  population.  In  fact,  no  part  of  Den- 
mark has  developed  so  rapidly  as  the  infertile 
regions  whose  upbuilding  was  stimulated  by  the 
opening  up  of  transportation. 

The  means  employed  by  the  government  to 
develop  the  railroad  system  have  been  two:  (1) 
The  installation  of  great  steam  ferries  over  all 
the  important  stretches  of  sea;  and  (2)  the  in- 
stitution of  very  low  passenger  and  freight 
rates,  especially  for  journeys  of  considerable 
length,  such  as  those  between  the  island  of  Jut- 
land and  those  across  the  entire  country. 

Steam  Fereies.  Great  steam  ferries  are 
equipped  to  carry  passenger  and  freight  trains 
across  the  sea  without  trans-shipment.  Some  of 
these  ferries  ply  across  waters  as  much  as  18.6 
miles  wide,  where  the  sea  is  often  very  rough. 
Some  ferries  are  so  large  that  with  two  sets  of 
tracks  they  can  carry  from  sixteen  to  eighteen 
10-ton  trucks. 

The  smaller  steam  ferries,  used  for  shorter 
crossings,  have  but  a  single  set  of  rails  and  can 
carry  five  to  six  freight  trucks.  The  ferries  are 
all  good  sea  boats  and  are  fast  and  steady.  By 
means  of  these  steam  ferries  a  through  mail 
route  has  been  established  from  Sweden  and 


168  DENMARK 

Norway  with  the  rest  of  Europe.  A  loaded 
truck  coming  from  France,  Holland,  Germany 
or  any  other  country  in  central  or  southern 
Europe  can  run  without  trans-shipment  through 
Denmark  via  Jutland,  the  Little  Belt,  Funen, 
the  Great  Belt,  Sealand,  the  Sound,  to  Stock- 
holm, Gothenburg,  Christiania  or  any  other  sta- 
tion on  the  Swedish  or  Norwegian  standard 
gauge  lines.  In  1903  there  was  established  an- 
other "moveable  railway"  between  Warne- 
miinde  in  Mecklenburg  and  Gedser  in  the  Dan- 
ish islands,  crossing  the  Baltic  where  it  is  26.1 
miles  across.  Mecklenburg  and  Denmark  co- 
operated in  this  undertaking. 

Passenger  and  Freight  Rate.  Till  1903  the 
rates  on  the  Danish  railroads  were  very  low 
as  compared  with  other  countries,  and  even  the 
revision  which  took  place  in  that  year  did 
not  appreciably  increase  them.  Passenger 
rates  for  a  return  trip  journey  of  373  miles 
cost 


Denmark  Prussia 

1st  class  $8.90  $18.00 

2nd  class    5.56  13.50 

3rd  class 3.32  9.00 

1  Rimestad,  Bulletin  International  Railway  Congress,  Jan. 
Dec,  1903. 


RAILWAYS  169 

Freight  rates  for  ten  tons  of  goods  over  the 
same  route  were  as  follows : 

Commodity                 Denmark  Prussia 

10  tons  of  butter $33.00  $93.00 

10  tons  building  timber  . . .     24.30  48.00 

10  tons  stone 10.00  36.00 

The  weak  side  of  the  Danish  railways,  if 
it  is  a  weak  side,  was  and  still  is  their  earnings. 
In  1902-1903  the  state  lines  earned  only  1.5  to  2 
per  cent  on  the  capital.  This  was  not  due  to 
inefficiency  of  state  operation  as  is  frequently 
stated,  but  to  the  fact  that  Danish  legislators 
believed  that  the  lowest  possible  rates  with  vig- 
orous development  of  new  territory  and  quick 
and  cheap  communication  should  be  of  first  con- 
sideration. These  views  have  changed  to  some 
extent  in  recent  years. 

There  was  a  general  organization  of  the  rail- 
roads in  1895,  when  by  act  of  Parliament  the 
basis  on  which  rates  should  be  charged,  as  well 
as  the  conditions  under  which  traffic  should  be 
carried,  were  settled.  The  principles  on  which 
rates  were  fixed  were  (1)  that  they  should 
be  such  as  to  help  in  the  economic  develop- 
ment of  Denmark,  and  (2)  that  they  should 
decrease  rapidly  per  mile  as  the  distance 
increased, 


170  DENMARK 

Eevision  of  Bates.  In  1898  a  commission  was 
created  to  consider  a  revision  of  the  railroad 
administration.  It  consisted  of  eighteen  mem- 
bers. After  a  careful  study  the  commission 
presented  a  very  full  report,  which  was  re-, 
ported  at  the  1902-1903  session  of  the  Rigs- 
dag.  It  dealt  mainly  with  (1)  rules  to  be 
followed  in  organizing  the  railroads;  (2) 
the  fixation  of  charges;  (3)  wages  of  the 
staff. 

Most  interesting  of  the  commission's  conclu- 
sions was  that  concerning  rates  and  profits. 
There  was  general  agreement  that  the  railroads 
should  yield  greater  profits  than  had  been  the 
case  theretofore,  but  the  commission  recom- 
mended that  rates  should  be  increased  only  with 
the  greatest  caution.  The  commission  stated: 
"The  geographical  lie  of  the  provinces — the  po- 
sition of  the  country  preventing  the  develop- 
ment of  transit  traffic — the  poverty  of  Denmark 
in  minerals,  which  elsewhere  provide  a  lucrative 
source  of  traffic;  and  lastly  the  obligation  in  the 
true  interest  of  civilization  to  construct  rail- 
ways through  poor  districts,  are  circumstances 
that  have  always  been  so  imbued  in  the  minds  of 
legislators  that  it  has  been  necessary  to  recog- 
nize how  difficult  it  is  to  calculate  on  the  state 


RAILWAYS  171 

railways  bringing  in  4,  3^2,  or  even  3  per 
cent."1 

The  commission  agreed  that  the  rates  already- 
existing  had  helped  in  the  economic  develop- 
ment of  Denmark  and  that  if  they  had  to  be 
raised  the  increases  must  be  both  moderate,  to 
avoid  a  falling  off  in  the  traffic  in  general,  and 
that  they  should  be  imposed  on  both  goods  and 
passenger  traffic.  The  commission,  therefore, 
proposed  to  preserve  the  principle  of  the  Act 
of  1895  in  practically  the  same  shape  as  before, 
especially  as  regards  the  fixation  of  rates  on  a 
scale  rapidly  decreasing  with  the  distance,  but 
to  increase  slightly  the  scale  upon  which  pas- 
sengers were  charged.  The  rate  on  goods  was 
to  be  raised  5  per  cent  over  all  distances. 

More  efficient  management  rather  than  the  in- 
crease of  rates  was  relied  on  chiefly  to  increase 
the  profits,  and  a  two-fold  plan  was  devised  to 
accomplish  this  purpose.  In  the  first  place,  the 
organization,  which  had  been  costly  and  com- 
plicated and  highly  centralized,  was  to  be  re- 
formed. In  the  second  place  a  system  of  profit 
sharing  was  to  be  instituted  in  the  hope  that  all 
the  employees  would  then  be  interested  in  mak- 
ing the  roads  as  profitable  as  possible.    If  the 

1Rimestad,  Bulletin  International  Railway  Congress,  V.  17. 


172  DENMARK 

profits  for  the  year  on  the  state  railways  ex- 
ceeded 2  per  cent  on  the  capital  employed  and 
registered  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  there 
was  to  be  divided  among  the  members  of  the 
general  directorate  and  all  the  permanent  em- 
ployees, besides  their  salaries,  a  dividend  based 
on  the  following  scale : 

50  per  cent  of  profits  if  dividend  were  between  2  and  2y>% 
30    "      "      "        "       *        "  "  "        2%  and  3% 

10    "       »     "        "       "        «  «  "        Zy2  and  4% 

5    "      "      "        "       "        "  "  "        4      and  5^0 

on  the  capital  employed,  up  to  a  maximum  of 
6  per  cent  on  the  capital  registered  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year.  An  elaborate  scheme  was 
drawn  up  for  a  just  apportionment  of  the  profits 
among  the  beneficiaries  of  the  plan.  It  will  be 
noted  that  as  the  profits  approached  6  per  cent 
the  portion  to  be  distributed  among  the  em- 
ployees became  but  a  small  fraction.  The 
reason  for  this  was  that  it  was  not  considered 
wise  to  encourage  the  employees  to  work  for  too 
high  profits,  as  this  might  conceivably  be  done 
at  the  expense  of  the  best  service. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

TAXES 

The  budget  of  any  country  indicates  pretty  ac- 
curately the  class  that  rules  that  country. 
Wherever  we  find  an  approach  to  democracy 
there  we  find  taxes  levied  upon  incomes,  inheri- 
tances and  wealth ;  wherever  the  government  is 
in  the  hands  of  the  privileged  classes,  whether 
landed  or  commercial,  there  we  find  that  indirect 
taxes  on  consumption  predominate.  This  is  al- 
most always  true.  The  budget  of  a  country  is 
a  mirror  of  the  kind  of  government  the  people 
enjoy.  It  indicates  the  class  which  controls  the 
state. 

To  most  people  taxation  is  a  matter  of  little 
importance.  They  think  of  taxation  merely  as 
a  means  of  getting  money  to  meet  the  needs  of 
the  state.  They  care  very  little  about  its  ulti- 
mate incidence.  They  do  not  realize  that  no 
single  thing  is  as  largely  responsible  for  the 
prosperity  or  poverty  of  a  people  as  the  method 
of  raising  revenues. 

173 


174  DENMARK 

The  Incidence  of  Taxation.  The  essential 
democracy  of  Denmark  is  reflected  in  the  system 
of  taxation  that  prevails.  It  is  far  more  equi- 
table than  in  most  of  the  countries  in  Europe. 
In  the  first  place,  Denmark  may  be  classed  as  a 
free-trade  country.  Although  one-third  of  the 
revenues  come  from  customs  or  tariff  taxes 
most  of  the  articles  of  common  use  enter  the 
country  free.  This  is  even  true  of  foodstuffs,  of 
meat,  flour,  coal,  petroleum,  etc.,  while  the  tariff 
on  manufactured  materials  and  metal  goods  is 
very  low.  It  is  surprising  that  an  agricultural 
country,  especially  a  country  with  a  poor  soil, 
should  not  have  sought  protection  against  the 
competition  of  America,  Argentina  and  Russia. 
But  the  peasants  of  Denmark  are  self-reliant. 
Instead  of  a  protective  tariff  they  adjusted  their 
agriculture  to  new  markets.  They  went  into 
dairying,  the  raising  of  hogs,  cattle  and  eggs. 
They  left  the  growing  of  wheat  to  countries  bet- 
ter suited  to  large-scale  production.  In  recent 
years  the  tendency  has  been  to  a  continued  re- 
duction of  the  duties  and  there  is  a  considerable 
party  in  the  nation  that  stands  for  absolute  free- 
trade  and  the  raising  of  all  revenues  by  direct 
internal  taxation.  However,  the  present  duties 
average  only  5  per  cent,  the  rates  having  been 


TAXES  175 

reduced  from  a  general  average  of  8  per  cent  in 
1908.  Spirits  are  taxed  heavily  and  the  duty  on 
beer  is  the  highest  in  the  world.  Sugar  is  duti- 
able, while  duties  on  tobacco  and  cigarettes 
have  been  recently  increased.  There  are  taxes 
on  motor  cars  and  amusements.  There  are  a 
number  of  other  taxes  on  corporations,  legacies 
and  inheritances,  the  later  tax  being  graded  ac- 
cording to  the  size  of  the  estate  and  the  relation- 
ship of  the  recipients  to  the  testator. 

The  greater  part  of  the  revenues  for  state 
purposes  comes  from  income  taxation. 

Tax  Eeforms  The  act  of  1903  was  the  first 
of  a  series  of  laws  looking  to  reform  in  land 
taxation.  At  that  time  land  was  still  being 
taxed  on  a  valuation  made  in  1840,  so  that  much 
very  valuable  land  paid  scarcely  any  taxes  at 
all,  while  lands  of  little  value  were  overbur- 
dened. The  act  of  1903  provided  for  a  quin- 
quennial basis  of  taxation.  A  uniform  tax  of 
1.1  per  thousand  is  imposed  on  the  estimated 
capital  value  of  all  estates,  including  land  and 
buildings.  The  total  capital  value  of  both  in 
1915  was  $1,750,000,000.! 

Direct  taxation  on  incomes  is  levied  at  the 

1  Denmark  and  the  Danes,  Harvey  and  Rupien,  p.  261. 


176  DENMARK 

rate  of  1.4  per  cent  per  annum,  for  incomes 
under  $275  and  increases  according  to  a  grad- 
uated scale  to  5  per  cent  for  incomes  over 
$55,000.  The  first  $225  is  exempt  from  taxation, 
while  there  are  additional  allowances  for  each 
child  under  fifteen. 

The  profits  of  limited  companies  are  taxed  at 
the  rate  of  3  per  cent  after  the  provision  of  a 
4  per  cent  dividend  for  shareholders.  This 
source  of  revenue  brings  in  $350,000  annually. 
Legacy  duties  have  recently  been  increased. 
They  vary  from  1  to  3  per  cent,  according  to 
the  size  of  the  estate,  if  the  heir  is  a  child  of  the 
legator,  and  rise  to  as  high  as  10  or  12  per  cent 
if  the  bequest  is  to  distant  relatives. 

State  Industries.  The  remainder  of  the 
state  income  is  derived  from  railways,  port  fees, 
lotteries  and  the  national  bank.  Most  of  the 
railways,  and  all  the  great  trunk  lines  belong 
to  the  state.  The  income  from  this  source  ex- 
ceeded $1,750,000  in  1914,  and  as  fares  have 
since  been  increased,  it  is  expected  that  profits 
will  hereafter  reach  between  $2,500,000  and 
$2,750,000.  The  capital  invested  in  Danish  state 
railways  is  $75,000,000  and  the  total  mileage 
is  2,000.    Some  lines,  although  not  state  owned, 


TAXES  177 

are  practically  supported  by  the  state,  in  that 
the  treasury  has  acquired  from  25  per  cent  to 
75  per  cent  of  their  shares.1 

The  post-office  and  telegraph  together  bring 
in  an  income  of  $500,000  a  year.  The  levy  on 
the  state  lottery  and  the  stamp  duty  on  lottery 
tickets  bring  in  respectively  $425,000  and  $500,- 
000  a  year.  Abolition  of  the  lottery  has  often 
been  discussed,  but  nothing  has  been  done  as  yet. 
It  is  felt  that  if  the  people  must  gamble,  it  is 
better  that  the  profits  from  it  should  go  to  the 
state  than  to  bookmakers. 

There  is  also  a  national  industrial  lottery,  in 
which  the  prizes  are  products  of  Danish  manu- 
facture, and  the  profits  of  which  are  devoted  to 
supporting  evening  schools  for  young  hand 
workers.  There  are  also  two  smaller  lotteries, 
privately  controlled,  which  give  part  of  their 
profits  to  the  state.  Two  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  a  year  is  received  from 
the  national  bank  for  the  exclusive  right  to 
issue  notes. 

Prior  to  the  war  the  total  state  taxes 
amounted  to  100,000,000  kroner,  of  which  26,- 
000,000  was  direct  taxes,  20,000,000  being  from 

1  The  war  increased  the  operating  costs  of  the  railroads 
greatly.  As  a  result  a  deficit  of  about  $4,500,000  was  incurred 
in  the  fiscal  year  1918-1919. 


178  DENMARK 

income  taxes  and  the  balance  from  indirect 
sources.  For  the  year  1920-1921  the  total  state 
taxes  will  amount  to  405,000,000  kroner,  of 
which  220,000,000  will  be  collected  from  direct 
sources. 

Militaky  Expenditube.  The  expenditures  of 
a  country  reflect  the  class  which  rules,  as  does 
the  kind  of  taxes  levied.  Denmark  spends  much 
more  money,  proportionately,  for  social  and 
productive  purposes,  and  less  on  the  army  and 
navy,  than  do  other  European  countries.  The 
ordinary  military  expenditure  in  recent  years 
has  increased  from  $2.40  to  $3.00  per  inhabitant, 
which  was  a  striking  contrast  to  the  figures  for 
England,  France  or  Germany.1  In  spite  of  the 
$8,750,000  provided  by  the  act  of  1909  for  the 
fortification  of  Copenhagen,  which  sum  was  to 
be  spread  over  a  number  of  years,  the  military 
and  naval  expenditures  amount  to  only  one- 
fourth  of  the  budget.  Considerable  sums  are 
spent  in  the  support  of  certain  trades  and  in- 
dustries. Agriculture  receives  annually  $1,225,- 
000,  reclamation  work  on  heath  land,  etc.,  $500,- 


1  There  are  only  11,000  conscripts  a  year   in   Denmark. — 
Denmark  and  the  Danes,  p.  305. 


TAXES  179 

000,  and  the  mail  routes  between  Denmark  and 
England  are  also  supported  by  substantial  sub- 
sidies, in  order  to  make  secure  for  the  Danish 
farmers  the  valuable  English  market. 
The  budget  is  divided  about  as  follows :  * 


To  the  support  of  trade  and  industry  directly  ...  10  per  cent. 
For  purposes  of  social  betterment  and  amelioration  30    "      " 

Army  and  navy  votes  30    "      " 

Administration    (civil    service,    police,   pensions, 

etc.)   20    "      " 

Interest  on  national  debt 10    "      " 


Of  the  30  per  cent  of  the  state  income  devoted 
to  social  work  5  per  cent  is  devoted  to  old  age 
pensions ;  hospitals  and  lunatic  asylums  receive 
between  6  and  7  per  cent;  national  folk  high 
schools  the  same  amount;  scientific  education 
and  the  arts  about  5  per  cent. 

National,  Debt.  The  national  debt  amounts 
to  $97,500,000,  the  greater  part  of  which  is  held 
in  France,  from  which  country  Denmark  obtains 
most  of  her  loans.  The  national  debt  is  small 
as  compared  with  that  of  other  countries,  even 
proportionately.  It  works  out  to  about  $32.50 
per  inhabitant,  and  it  must  be  remembered 

1  Denmark  and  the  Danes,  Harvey,  pp.  267,  268. 


180  DENMARK 

that  Denmark  has  invested  much  money  in  such 
undertakings  as  railways  and  small  holdings. 

The  income  of  municipalities  is  derived  from 
rates  and  from  enterprises  such  as  trams,  water, 
gas  and  electric  light.  Rates  are  levied  both  on 
persons  and  on  properties,  the  corporation  being 
free  to  decide  the  amounts  necessary  to  meet 
the  expenses  of  the  year.  The  municipal  income 
tax  permits  an  exemption  of  the  first  $250  and 
an  additional  allowance  of  $25  for  every  child  in 
the  family.  Above  these  amounts  rates  vary 
from  1  to  6  per  cent,  according  to  the  size  of  the 
income.  At  least  this  is  the  case  in  Copenhagen. 
In  provincial  towns  the  rate  is  the  same  for  all 
incomes,  but  it  varies  from  5  to  10  per  cent  in 
different  parts  of  the  country.  Assessors  may 
add  up  to  25  per  cent  to  the  nominal  amount  of 
income  for  purposes  of  taxation  where  it  seems 
to  be  warranted,  as  in  the  case  of  unmarried 
persons  with  unusually  large  incomes.  On  the 
other  hand  the  nominal  amount  may  be  reduced 
as  much  as  65  per  cent  in  the  case  of  large 
families  with  small  incomes.  In  many  munici- 
palities a  further  5  per  cent  is  added  to  the  as- 
sessment value  if  the  income  is  derived  from 
interest  on  bonds  or  shares.  Most  municipal- 
ities now  own  and  control  gas,  water  and  elec- 


TAXES  181 

tricity  works.  The  total  debt  of  Danish  mu- 
nicipalities is  $95,000,000,  a  great  increase  over 
the  amount  a  few  years  ago.  Most  of  it  is  held 
by  Danish  banks.1 

1  Denmark  and  the  Danes,  p.  271. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

SOME  LESSONS  FROM  DENMARK 

It  would  be  misleading  to  assume  that  America 
should  adopt  Danish  experiments  in  their  en- 
tirety. Agricultural  conditions  are  widely  dif- 
ferent. The  Danish  farm  is  small,  the  number 
of  farms  of  between  1/3  and  12  acres  in  extent 
numbering  133,000  out  of  250,000,  as  compared 
with  the  average  American  farm  of  from  100  to 
200  acres.  Labor  produces  far  more  per  man  in 
this  country  than  it  does  in  Denmark,  owing  to 
the  larger  size  of  our  farms  and  the  greater 
capital  investment  per  man.  With  a  large  part 
of  our  acreage  not  even  under  cultivation,  it 
would  be  economic  waste  to  divide  the  land  into 
small  holdings  or  to  work  it  as  intensively  as  is 
done  in  Denmark. 

Yet  allowing  for  all  differences,  the  devices  of 
the  Danish  farmer  are  as  applicable  to  America 
as  they  are  to  Denmark.  There  is  the  same 
reason  for  the  farmer  to  enter  politics  in  this 
country  as  there  was  in  Denmark.  There  is  the 
same  reason  for  cooperation,  for  special  schools, 

182 


SOME  LESSONS  FROM  DENMARK     183 

for  ownership  of  dairies,  slaughterhouses,  mar- 
keting agencies  and  credit.  There  is  the  same 
urgent  need  for  state  loans  to  convert  the  tenant 
and  the  agricultural  worker  into  an  owner.  The 
same  exploiting  agencies  that  were  fast  ruining 
the  Danish  farmer  in  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury are  ruining  the  farmer  in  America.  These 
processes  are  proceeding  quite  as  rapidly  in  this 
country  as  they  did  there. 

The  Need  op  the  American  Farmer.  Agri- 
culture in  America  waits  on  an  economic  pro- 
gram that  will  make  the  farmer  self-contained, 
that  will  enable  him  to  control  his  own  life,  his 
politics,  his  banks,  his  markets,  his  means  of 
distribution.  And  it  is  probable  that  the 
struggle  in  this  country  will  be  far  more  bitter 
than  it  was  in  Denmark,  for  the  exploiting  agen- 
cies with  us  are  far  more  powerfully  organized ; 
they  have  a  stronger  strangle-hold  on  politics, 
the  press  and  on  our  industrial  life  than  they 
did  in  little  Denmark  a  generation  ago. 

The  farmer  is  the  Cinderella  of  politics.  He 
is  the  prey  of  the  speculator  and  the  exploiter. 
He  is  a  free  man  in  theory,  but  in  practice  he  is 
preyed  upon  by  innumerable  agencies  that  live 
upon  his  efforts.    In  the  middlewest  especially, 


184  DENMARK 

the  farmer  works  for  the  speculator  and  the 
middleman.  He  has  been  reduced  to  something 
like  serfdom  that  differs  more  in  the  methods 
employed  than  in  the  fact  itself. 

The  agencies  that  most  burden  the  American 
farmer  are: 

1.  The  railroads,  transportation  and  terminal 
agencies. 

2.  The  banking  and  credit  institutions. 

3.  The  slaughtering,  warehousing,  storage, 
marketing  and  selling  agencies. 

4.  Landlordism  and  tenant  farming. 

Let  us  examine  the  economic  condition  of  the 
American  farmer. 

First,  the  American  farmer  produces  for  an 
unknown  price  and  for  an  unknown  market.  He 
plants  his  crops,  he  employs  labor,  he  incurs  in- 
debtedness, wholly  in  the  dark.  He  does  not 
know  what  price  he  will  receive  for  his  produce 
or  whether  it  will  yield  him  enough  to  even  pay 
for  his  own  labor.  Prices  are  fixed  for  him  first 
by  the  total  output  of  the  country  or  of  the 
world,  and  second  by  commission  men,  specula- 
tors and  buyers,  who  determine  without  con- 
sultation with  the  farmer  what  will  be  offered 
for  what  he  produces. 

The  packing  syndicate  determines  what  will 


SOME  LESSONS  FROM  DENMARK     185 

be  paid  for  cattle,  hogs  and  sheep.  The  com- 
mission man  fixes  the  price  of  perishable 
produce.  The  price  of  poultry  and  eggs  is  fixed 
in  the  same  way.  There  is  no  competition 
among  the  buyers.  Moreover  the  price  is  fixed 
when  the  farmer  has  to  sell.  It  is  fixed  not  by 
the  public  but  by  speculative  agencies  which 
control  the  market,  buying  at  the  lowest  pos- 
sible price  and  selling  at  the  highest  possible 
price. 

The  farmer  cannot  store  his  goods  for  an  op- 
portune market,  for  he  has  no  storage  facilities. 
The  means  of  warehousing  and  cold-storage  are 
in  the  hands  of  the  packers  and  commission  men. 
They  often  control  the  banks  or  if  they  do  not 
control  them  the  banks  are  unwilling  to  make 
loans  to  the  farmers.  As  a  rule  the  farmer  must 
sell  at  the  end  of  the  season  to  pay  his  debts 
which  have  been  incurred  during  the  harvest 
season. 

Lack  of  Credit  Agencies.  Second,  the 
farmer  has  no  credit  agencies  such  as  are  found 
all  over  Europe.  Very  often  the  banks  find  it 
more  profitable  to  work  with  the  speculators 
who  offer  good  commercial  paper,  than  they  do 
with  the  farmers.    The  banks  again  are  inter- 


186  DENMARK 

locked  by  common  directors  with  the  commis- 
sion men,  packers  and  speculative  agencies.  To 
them  they  loan  money  on  easy  terms.  This  en- 
ables the  speculators  to  control  the  market. 
Independent  farmers  are  a  menace  to  the  spec- 
ulative group.    They  disturb  the  market. 

In  addition  the  farmer  finds  it  difficult  to  se- 
cure credit  for  his  current  operations;  to  buy 
machinery,  to  employ  labor,  to  put  in  his  crops. 
This  is  especially  true  of  the  small  farmer  and 
the  tenant.  The  investigations  made  by  the 
Comptroller  of  the  Currency  in  1915  as  to  usury 
and  credit  operations  in  the  west,  showed  that 
tenant  farmers  paid  40,  50,  sometimes  100,  some- 
times as  much  as  200  per  cent  for  their  neces- 
sitous loans.  In  some  parts  of  the  country 
farmers  can  only  get  credit  from  the  neighbor- 
hood store  or  from  private  individuals,  for  the 
most  part  landowners  who  extend  credit  to 
tenants  and  buyers  on  exhaustive  terms. 

The  Railroads.  Third,  the  farmer  labors  un- 
der a  constant  menace  from  the  railroads.  They 
too  are  interlaced  with  the  speculators.  They 
refuse  or  are  unable  to  furnish  cars.  Hundreds 
other  produce  is  permitted  to  rot  every  year,  or 
of  millions  of  dollars  worth  of  food,  fruit  and 


SOME  LESSONS  FROM  DENMARK    187 

is  unable  to  reach  a  market,  either  because  of 
inadequate  transportation  facilities  or  because 
of  the  conspiracy  of  speculators  and  middlemen 
to  keep  an  ample  supply  of  food  off  from  the 
market.  The  railroads  are  closely  merged  with 
the  packers  who  own  refrigerator  cars,  ter- 
minals and  cold-storage  plants.  It  is  to  their 
common  interest  to  limit  production  and  thus 
maintain  prices.  The  directors  and  officers  of 
railroads  are  much  more  interested  in  the  ex- 
ploitating  groups  than  they  are  in  the  farmers. 
The  railroads  do  not  function  for  the  promotion 
of  production  as  they  do  in  other  countries, 
especially  as  they  do  in  Denmark,  Germany  and 
Australia. 

The  small  farmer,  the  truck  farmer,  the 
farmer  near  the  large  city,  is  often  discrimi- 
nated against.  The  short-haul  traffic  yields  a 
small  return  to  the  railroads.  Foodstuffs  rot  in 
New  York  State  every  fall,  as  does  fruit,  while 
trainloads  of  produce  come  in  every  day  with 
the  regularity  of  passenger  service  from  Cali- 
fornia, Oregon,  Texas  and  Florida.  The  rail- 
roads get  large  earnings  from  the  long  haul. 
So  they  discourage  and  often  kill  local  farming. 
This  is  one  reason  why  farmers  all  over  the  east 
are  abadoning  their  farms. 


188  DENMARK 

The  Packers.  The  raising  of  cattle,  hogs 
and  sheep  is  discriminated  against  in  the  same 
way.  The  Big  Five  packers  seek  to  control  the 
market.  They  buy  out  or  destroy  local  slaugh- 
terhouses. They  control  the  cold-storage  ware- 
houses. They  also  control  the  refrigerator  cars. 
There  are  no  markets  where  the  eastern  farmer 
can  sell  his  cattle,  hogs  and  sheep.  So  the 
farmer  gradually  abandons  the  raising  of  live 
stock.  This  in  turn  reduces  the  production  of 
milk,  butter  and  cheese.  The  railroads  have 
probably  done  more  to  discourage  agriculture 
than  any  other  single  agency. 

Public  Slaughterhouse.  In  other  countries 
butchering  is  done  in  publicly  owned  or  co- 
operatively owned  abattoirs.  In  every  other 
country  in  the  world  save  England  and  America 
abattoirs  are  publicly  owned.  All  slaughtering 
must  be  done  in  public  slaughterhouses.  Almost 
every  town  of  any  size  in  Europe  has  a  sanitary 
abattoir.  There  are  upwards  of  a  thousand 
such  abattoirs  in  Germany.  There  is  no  meat 
trust  in  these  countries.  And  live  stock  of  all 
kinds  is  raised  in  abundance  roundabout  every 
town  and  city.    In  Denmark,  as  we  have  seen, 


SOME  LESSONS  FROM  DENMARK    189 

the  slaughtering  is  done  in  cooperative  abat- 
toirs. Monopoly  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible 
under  these  conditions.  Live  stock  is  either 
driven  on  the  hoof  to  the  abattoir  or  the  rail- 
roads cooperate  to  develop  local  transportation 
in  the  interest  of  the  consuming  public.  In 
some  of  the  states  of  Australia  the  state  itself 
receives,  transports,  slaughters,  grades,  packs 
and  sells  all  the  produce  of  the  farm.  The  state 
is  the  middleman  between  the  farmer  and  the 
consumer. 

I  have  no  doubt  but  that  the  farm  produce 
that  reaches  the  market  in  America  could  be  in- 
creased by  billions  of  dollars  a  year  if  the  means 
of  transportation  were  adjusted  to  the  adequate 
haulage,  storage  and  marketing  of  such  produce. 
I  have  no  doubt  but  that  the  annual  output 
would  be  increased  by  billions  if  the  farmer 
were  assured  a  market  and  were  protected  from 
the  many  agencies  that  now  live  upon  his  efforts. 
We  have  seen  how  agricultural  produce  ex- 
panded in  Denmark;  how  that  country  seized 
possession  of  the  markets  of  England  and  Ger- 
many as  soon  as  the  agencies  that  controlled  its 
output  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  farmers  and 
were  operated  for  his  benefit. 


190  DENMARK 

The  Need  of  Ceedit  Agencies.  Credit  is  an- 
other agency  that  must  be  organized  for  the 
benefit  of  the  farmer.  It  must  be  socialized  and 
made  an  agency  of  production  rather  than  of 
exploitation.  The  farmer  needs  credit  as  much 
as  does  the  business  man.  But  there  are  no 
banking  agencies  to  aid  him.  The  Federal  Farm 
Loan  banks  are  designed  to  lend  money  upon 
long-term  mortgages.  They  are  not  commercial 
banks.  The  national  and  state  banks  use  their 
resources  for  commercial  purposes.  A  great 
part  of  their  deposits  are  kept  in  the  money 
centers  for  speculation.  Of  banks  to  aid  the 
farmer  there  are  practically  none  in  this  coun- 
try. 

Farmers'  credit  organizations  have  been  de- 
veloped all  over  Europe.  They  are  in  the  form 
of  credit  unions  or  Raiffeisen  banks,  or  are 
regular  banks  organized  by  the  farmers  them- 
selves. There  are  16,000  Raiffeisen  banks  in 
Germany  alone,  which  made  loans  in  1913  up  to 
$560,000,000.  The  credit  union  is  an  organiza- 
tion of  local  farmers  who  know  one  another. 
They  organize  a  small  cooperative  union.  One 
of  their  members  is  elected  treasurer.  A  loan 
committee  is  provided  for,  which  extends  credit 
to  the  individual  farmer  on  a  promissory  note 


SOME  LESSONS  FROM  DENMARK     191 

signed  by  one  or  more  of  his  neighbors.  They 
see  that  the  money  is  wisely  invested.  They  see 
that  it  is  repaid.  The  interest  rates  are  low  and 
the  organization  is  directed  to  the  promotion  of 
agricultural  efficiency  all  along  the  line.  These 
little  banks  of  the  farmers  have  spread  all 
over  Europe.  Together  with  similar  banking 
agencies  for  artisans,  there  were  65,000 
of  them  before  the  war,  which  had  a  total 
annual  turnover  of  nearly  seven  billion 
dollars. 

State  Bank  of  Nobth  Dakota.  The  state  of 
North  Dakota  has  recently  organized  a  state 
bank  known  as  the  State  Bank  of  North  Dakota. 
It  began  business  operations  in  June,  1919,  with 
$2,000,000  of  capital  raised  by  an  issue  of  state 
bonds.  The  State  Bank  was  made  the  deposi- 
tory of  all  state,  county,  municipal  and  school 
funds.  These  gave  it  initial  resources  of  up- 
wards of  $17,000,000.  Almost  immediately  the 
bank  reduced  interest  rates  from  an  average  of 
8.7  to  6  per  cent.  It  has  loaned  large  sums  on 
real  estate  security  and  has  been  of  great  serv- 
ice in  promoting  the  agricultural  prosperity  of 
the  state.  In  the  first  170  days  of  its  existence 
it  made  a  net  profit  of  $76,588. 


192  DENMARK 

Farm  Tenantry  in  America.  As  stated  else- 
where America  is  rapidly  becoming  a  nation  of 
farm  tenants.  Tenancy  has  reached  alarming 
proportions.  And  it  is  growing  with  great 
rapidity  especially  in  the  middlewest.  Along 
with  the  increase  in  tenantry  agricultural  land 
values  are  advancing  to  such  prohibitive  figures 
that  the  farm  tenant  can  scarcely  hope  to  be 
anything  more  than  a  tenant  or  worker.  It  is  al- 
most impossible  for  a  tenant  farmer  to  make 
a  living  on  land  valued  at  from  $200  to  $300 
an  acre,  which  is  the  price  of  a  great  deal  of 
farm  land  in  the  middlewest.  Increasing  land 
values  always  means  an  oppressed  tenantry; 
especially  in  a  country  where  there  are  no  laws 
for  the  protection  of  the  tenant,  as  there  are  in 
England,  Ireland,  and  some  of  the  countries  in 
Europe. 

The  increase  in  farm  tenantry  is  indicated  by 
the  census  investigations.  In  1880  25.6  per  cent 
of  all  American  farms  were  operated  by  others 
than  owners.  In  1890  the  percentage  had  in- 
creased to  28.4  per  cent.  By  1900  it  had  in- 
creased still  further  to  35.5  per  cent,  while  in 
1910  it  reached  37  per  cent. 

The  increase  in  tenantry  is  indicated  by  the 
number  of  farms  operated  by  others  than  own- 


SOME  LESSONS  FROM  DENMARK    193 

ers.  In  1910,  of  6,400,000  farms  in  the  country, 
less  than  4,000,000  were  owned  by  those  who 
worked  them.  Whereas  actual  farm  ownership 
increased  only  4.8  per  cent  from  1900  to  1910, 
the  number  of  farms  operated  by  renters  in- 
creased by  31.6  per  cent. 

This  increase  has  not  been  confined  to  any 
section  of  the  country.  It  is  true  of  practically 
all  of  the  farming  states.  In  some  sections  of 
the  country,  notably  Mississippi,  Texas  and  Ok- 
lahoma, farm  tenancy  is  rapidly  becoming  uni- 
versal. In  some  counties,  it  rises  as  high  as  60 
and  80  per  cent. 

The  description  of  the  farm  tenant  in  Cali- 
fornia is  applicable  to  the  farm  tenant  generally. 
The  Commission  on  Land  Colonization  and 
Rural  Credits  in  that  state  reported  in  1916  that 
tenants  cannot  "better  social  conditions  or  take 
an  interest  in  politics,  good  roads  or  public 
affairs.  The  struggle  for  existence  takes  up  his 
undivided  attention." 

A  similar  inquiry  in  that  state  reported  that : 
"the  white  contingent  of  California's  tenant 
class  are  generally  living  under  conditions  inim- 
ical to  democratic  citizenship.  The  tenants' 
children  cannot  make  the  desired  progress  in 
education,  as  they  are  constantly  moving  from 


194  DENMARK 

one  school  district  to  another.  Parents,  because 
of  their  transitory  life,  take  little  interest  in  the 
schools;  first  for  failure  to  appreciate  their 
value,  and  secondly  because  the  children  are 
obliged  to  help  in  the  exacting  routine  of  the 
family's  existence." 

Tenancy  is  one  explanation  of  the  rapid  de- 
terioration of  the  American  farm,  and  of  mil- 
lions of  farmers  as  well.  The  result  of  tenancy 
is  the  same  in  all  countries;  whether  it  is  in 
Ireland,  England  or  Belgium;  in  East  Prussia 
or  in  Austria-Hungary.  It  results  in  deterio- 
ration of  the  soil,  an  impoverished  people,  and 
in  a  decaying  political  and  social  system. 

The  Faem  Colony  and  State  Aid  to  Faemees. 
There  is  need  in  this  country  for  small  holdings, 
especially  in  the  eastern  states  and  around  our 
cities.  The  small  holding  is  the  proper  method 
for  truck  gardening,  for  the  raising  of  fruit, 
poultry,  eggs  and  other  perishable  products.  A 
properly  organized  agricultural  community 
would  attract  thousands  of  persons  of  small 
means;  retired  artisans  and  professional  per- 
sons who  are  tired  of  city  life  and  desire  to 
retire  to  a  more  leisurely  life  in  the  country. 

Denmark,  Australia  and  Ireland  have  demon- 


SOME  LESSONS  FROM  DENMARK     195 

strated  the  success  of  the  farm  colony  promoted 
by  the  state.  Australia  has  spent  large  sums  in 
the  promotion  of  such  colonies.  And  they  have 
been  a  universal  success.  Great  Britain  has  ex- 
pended over  $300,000,000  in  breaking  up  the 
large  estates  in  Ireland.  The  state  of  Cali- 
fornia has  developed  its  first  farm  colony.  The 
sum  of  $250,000  was  appropriated  by  the  legis- 
lature for  this  purpose.  A  commission  of  ex- 
perts was  appointed  which  purchased  a  tract  of 
6,000  acres  and  laid  it  out  in  small  holdings  to 
be  sold  on  easy  terms  to  buyers.  The  purchaser 
was  required  to  provide  about  one-third  of  the 
capital  invested,  the  state  providing  the  bal- 
ance. The  state  aided  the  colonists  in  laying 
out  the  farms,  in  deciding  on  the  methods  of 
cultivation  and  in  providing  the  farmer  with 
experts,  good  stock,  etc.  The  first  colony  was 
sold  out  in  a  few  weeks'  time.  It  has  been  in 
operation  for  over  two  years  and  has  proven 
such  a  success  that  a  larger  tract  has  been  pro- 
vided and  a  state  bond  issue  of  several  million 
dollars  has  been  authorized  for  extending  the 
idea. 

The  farm  colony  is  a  success  wherever  it  has 
been  tried.  Upwards  of  a  billion  dollars  had 
been  invested  before  the  war  by  Great  Britain 


196  DENMARK 

in  Ireland,  by  Germany,  Denmark  and  Eussia 
in  the  laying  out  of  small  holdings.  In  all  of 
these  countries  there  had  been  few  losses.  A 
better  kind  of  agriculture  was  introduced.  The 
breed  of  farm  animals  was  improved.  Thrift 
took  the  place  of  incompetence.  The  drift  from 
the  country  to  the  city  was  stopped  by  educa- 
tional and  recreational  activities.  Cooperative 
buying  and  selling  was  introduced,  as  was  com- 
munity ownership  of  tractors  and  farm  machin- 
ery. America  is  in  need  of  just  such  a  program, 
a  program  promoted  by  the  federal  and  the 
state  governments. 

Politics.  The  American  farmer  should  enter 
politics  as  he  has  in  Denmark.  He  must  look 
after  his  own  interests.  No  other  group  or 
class  will  look  after  them  for  him.  A  generation 
of  reliance  on  existing  parties  has  left  him  the 
prey  to  privileged  groups  and  interests.  Hav- 
ing no  political  power  he  has  lost  his  economic 
power.  He  has  been  exploited  by  one  group 
after  another  until  he  is  shorn  of  the  dignity 
and  standing  that  he  had  for  many  generations. 
Moreover  the  American  farmer  is  the  poorer 
by  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  annually,  by 
reason  of  his  neglect  of  politics.    The  farmers 


SOME  LESSONS  FROM  DENMARK    197 

of  North  Dakota  claimed  that  they  lost  $55,000,- 
000  annually  by  fraudulent  grading  of  wheat, 
by  the  unfair  methods  of  commission  men  and 
millers  of  Minneapolis  and  Chicago,  and  by 
other  practices  employed  in  the  marketing  of 
their  produce.  And  the  farmers  of  North  Dakota 
discovered  that  these  evils  could  only  be  cor- 
rected by  political  action.  So  they  entered  poli- 
tics. They  started  an  agrarian  movement  simi- 
lar in  many  respects  to  the  movement  started 
in  Denmark  forty  years  ago  by  the  Friends 
of  the  Peasants.  It  was  a  revolt  against  eco- 
nomic oppression.  The  struggle  continued  for 
many  years.  Finally  the  farmers  organized  the 
Non-Partisan  League  and  entered  the  primaries 
of  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties.  In 
1918  they  secured  control  of  the  legislature. 
They  elected  their  own  governor  and  members 
of  the  Supreme  Court  as  well.  Then  they 
enacted  their  own  program  into  law.  It  con- 
sisted of:  (a)  a  state  banking  law;  (b)  laws  for 
state  owned  marketing  facilities,  terminal  ware- 
houses and  slaughterhouses;  (c)  the  readjust- 
ment of  taxation  so  as  to  exempt  farm  improve- 
ments and  increase  the  burden  of  taxation  on 
land  values.  As  in  Denmark  the  farmers  of 
North  Dakota  have  adopted  a  modified  form  of 


198  DENMARK 

the  single  tax.    They  have  sought  to  end  land 
speculation  by  forcing  the  land  into  use. 

The  agrarian  movement  in  America  will  un- 
doubtedly be  a  state  movement.  It  will  make 
its^way  into  national  affairs  from  the  western 
states  where  the  farmers  are  more  responsive 
to  new  ideas  than  they  are  in  the  east.  From 
these  states  it  may  extend  to  the  nation  as  well. 
But  a  substantial  control  of  political  conditions 
is  possible  through  local  and  state  action. 

The  experience  of  Denmark  shows  that  a 
state  must  own  many  things  and  do  many  things 
in  order  that  the  people  may  be  free.  Even 
laissez  faire  involves  the  taking  of  certain  in- 
dustries out  of  the  field  of  private  ownership 
in  order  that  other  industries  may  operate 
freely.  Industrial  freedom  involves  a  certain 
amount  of  state  control  or  cooperative  control 
in  order  that  other  liberties  may  be  enjoyed. 
And  only  through  such  cooperative  action, 
either  voluntary  action  of  the  individual  or 
political  action  through  the  state,  can  the  pro- 
ducing groups  so  control  their  economic  life  as 
to  escape  from  the  exploiting  agencies  that  have 
risen  to  such  power  in  America. 

Denmark  is  an  experiment  station  in  free- 
dom.   It  is  a  demonstration  of  what  can  be  ac- 


SOME  LESSONS  FROM  DENMARK     199 

complished  by  any  people  once  they  have  re- 
leased the  talent  of  the  people  and  given  it  an 
opportunity  to  play. 

Denmark,  too,  is  a  demonstration  that  the  po- 
litical state  can  be  used  by  democracy  for  its 
own  ends.  It  can  be  used  as  an  agency  for  cul- 
ture and  education,  as  an  agency  for  developing 
home  ownership  and  farm  ownership,  as  an 
agency  of  justice  in  all  of  the  relations  of  life. 
Denmark  has  abolished  privilege.  In  so  doing 
she  has  ended  many  of  the  economic  injustices 
that  are  the  result  of  privilege.  With  privi- 
lege abolished  democracy  has  taken  its  rightful 
place.  And  democracy  has  ushered  in  a  larger 
degree  of  economic  justice  than  in  any  other 
country  in  the  world. 


INDEX 


Accounting,  cooperative,  39 
Administration,  school,  116 
Adults,    education     of,     Den- 
mark, 84;  schools  for,  91 
%  Agriculture,       characteristics 
of,    15,    16;    prosperity    in 
Denmark,     21 ;     conditions 
in  America,  30,   183;   high 
schools,        99 ;         economic 
foundations    of,    71;    adult 
education  in,  84.    See  Farms 
and  Farming. 
American   farmer,    30;    needs 
of,    183    et   seq.;   tenantry, 
192 
Architecture,  schools,  120 
Area  of  Denmark,  67 


Bacon  industry,  42 

Banks,  cooperative,  55;  de- 
posits, 20;  State  Bank  of 
North  Dakota,  191.  See 
Credit  Banks 

Breeding  societies,  64 

Budget,  173;  different  items 
of,  179 

Butter.     See  Cooperation 


Community  halls,  97 

Cooperation,  29  et  seq.;  ex- 
tent of,  31;  number  of  so- 
cieties, 32;  money  turn- 
over, 32;  nature  of,  33; 
dairying,  34;  gains  from, 
37;  how  organized,  38;  ac- 
counting systems,  39 ; 
union  of,  40;  butter  so- 
cieties for  export,  42; 
slaughtering,  43 ;  farm 
products,  46;  egg  societies, 
46;  stores,  51;  wholesale, 
52;  profits  of,  53;  improve- 
ment societies,  54;  banking, 
55;  advantages  of,  59; 
moral  gains,  61 ;  political 
awakening,  62 ;  social  gains, 
63 

Copenhagen,  8 

Cows,  increase  of  number,  42. 
See  Dairying 

Credit  banks,  143,  151.  See 
Banks 

Credit,  lack  of,  in  America, 
185;  need  of,  in  America, 
190 

Credit  unions,  190 

Culture,  7,  95 

Curricula,  people's  high 
schools,  90;  elementary 
schools,  115 


Caste,  5  D 

Characteristics      of      Danish 

people,  6  Dairying,  cooperative,  34;  or- 
Cities,  3  ganization  of,  38 

Classes,  economic,  in  politics,  Debt,  national,  179 

135  Democracy,  24;  nature  of,  26; 

201 


202 


INDEX 


related  to  land,  71;  educa- 
tion in,  123 

Denmark,  an  experiment  sta- 
tion, 198;  area  of,  67; 
geography  of,  2 

Depression,  industrial,  12 

Divorce,  8 


E 

Education,  relation  to  land 
ownership,  72;  new  ideas 
in,  77,  84;  extension  in, 
111;  elementary,  113;  in 
democracy,  123.  See  Peo- 
ple's High  Schools 
Egan,  Maurice  F.,  5,  113,  130 
Egg,  societies,  46;  exports  of, 

48 
Elementary  education,  113 
Examinations  in  high  schools, 

86 
Export  trade,  17,  48 
Extension,  educational,  111 


Haggard,  Rider,  113 


Illiteracy,  Denmark,  97,  113 
Improvement  societies,  54 
Incidence  of  taxation,  174 
Indebtedness,  farm,  153 
Industrial  depression,  12 
Industries,  state-owned,  176 
Insurance,  sickness,  157;  out- 
of-work,  160 
Intensive  farming,  16 


Kold,  Kristen,  82 


Landlordism,  ending  of,  141 
Land  Purchase  Act,  145 
Loans  to  farmers,  144 


Farms  and  Farming,  inten- 
sive, 16;  small,  20;  coop- 
eration in  see  Cooperation; 
ownership,  67 ;  tenantry, 
67;  size  of,  68;  tenantry, 
America,  73;  a  fine  art, 
126;  credit  to,  151;  indebt- 
edness of,  153;  in  America, 
183;  colonies,  194;  political 
power  of  farmers,  133; 
numbers  of,  68;  loans  to 
farmers,  144.  See  Agricul- 
ture 

Freight  rates,  168 


Gains  from  cooperation,  59 
Geography,  Denmark,  2 
Grundtvig,  Bishop,  76 


M 

Membership,  cooperative  so- 
cieties, 31 

Military  expenditure,  178 

Milk,  production,  37.  See  Co- 
operation and  Dairying 

Money  turn-over,  cooperative 
societies,  32 

Morality,  9 

Municipal  taxation,  180 


N 

National  debt,  179 
North  Dakota,  State  Bank  of, 
191 

O 

Old  age  pensions,  155 


INDEX 


203 


Organization    of   dairies, 

See  Cooperation 
Out-of-work  insurance,  160 


38. 


Packing   monopoly,    America, 

188 
Passenger  rates,  168 
Pensions,  old  age  and  widows, 

156 
People,  characteristics  of,  4 
People's  high  schools,  79 
Political    awakening   through 

cooperation,  62 
Politics,  need  of  farmer  move- 
ment in,  196 
Power  of  farmers,  133 
Profits  of  cooperatives,  53 
Public    control    of    education, 
114 


Railroads,  23,  166;  passenger 
and  freight  rates,  168;  in- 
adequate in  America,  186 


Sex  relations,  8 

Sickness  insurance,  157 

Single  tax,  137 

Size  of  Danish  farms,  68 

Slaughter  houses,  public,  188 

Small  holders,  schools  for,  104 

Social,  customs,  8;  gains  from 

cooperation,  63;   insurance, 

155 
Socialism,  25,  139 
Standard  of  living,  16 
State  Bank  of  North  Dakota, 

191 
State-owned  industries,  176 
Stores,  cooperative,  51 


Taxation,  173;  land  values, 
137;  recent  reforms,  175; 
municipal,   180 

Teachers,  freedom  of,  90;  sal- 
aries of,  121;  status  of,  120 

Temperance  movement,  10 

Tenantry,  67;  American,  73, 
192;  evils  of,  74 

Trade  unionists,  164 


S 

Salaries,  teachers,  121 

School,  administration,  166; 
architecture,  120.  See  Peo- 
ple's High  Schools 


W 

Washington,  Booker,  63 
Wholesale,  cooperative,  52 
Widows'  pensions,  156. 
Women,  position  of,  10 


FOURTEEN  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  ^re  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


14Dxft6Ls 


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NOV  30  1956 


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CIRCULATION 


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LD  21-100m-2,'55 
(B139s22)476 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


€03311,3706 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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